The Phantom Killer
by Saiketsu
Summary: Sesshomaru meets a mysterious fire demoness with an even more mysterious and darker past. Her heart is bitter and icy. But does she have other feelings hidden deep within the anger and hate she shows the world? And better yet is Sesshomaru unlocking them?
1. Yuuyake Revealed

A/N: First things first. Ahlo, I'm Saiketsu the Fire Starter. I burn things. : D Anyway I am here cuz i've had many suggestions to come. so i finally did. I was told that this is where all the reviews are at. Where people actually read your stories. I'm new here, so will i be disappointed? Oh, I hope not.

Chapter 1 on.

* * *

**The Phantom Killer  
Chapter 1: Yuuyake Revealed**

"Yuuyake, where are you?" an old but powerful fire demonmurmured to himself from his place on the step outside the hut where he searched for his daughter withhis eyes. _Blast it_, he thought with a prolonged sigh, looking around at the rising sunlight that bathed the landscape in a bright yellow glow. _She's off again! Whenever she's needed, that girl is off somewhere. One question. I can't even ask her one question. Why do I even try?_ With another heavy sigh he went to go look for his son instead, turning another way.

* * *

The girl hidden behind themighty magnolia tree sighed in relief that her father hadn't noticed her there. She relaxed somewhat, leaning her back against the majestic tree. Then, glancing only quickly at the retreating figure, she left, traveling deeper into the forest. 

She built up speed and moved fast through the forest, no more than a blur to any passersby. As she went, the brilliant lights of the mid-spring morning struck the ground violently in blurs and then were lost in her speed.

Her mind had darted from one subject to another as anyone's would, for there was no need for concentration. The place was almost like ahome away from home for her, what with seeing it almost every day. She knew every tree to pass, path to take and fallen log that lay in her way. She knew what demon lay hidden, laying in wait for any prey.

And soon, far from where she started, she began to slow as her uneasiness ebbed. She was far enough away from her home and her thoughts that there was really no need to escape anymore.

The young woman found herself wandering through an ancient grove of sakura trees after a while, one that had been there long before she were born. her pace had slowed severly down to a walk while now she looked at the cherry blossoms casually, as if they were nothing new in the scenery. The spring always offered these beautiful, delicate sakura blossoms, just like many other things- food, life, renewal. Memories most of all.

But they were never good ones...

And her mind wandered yet again. It wandered back forty years. To a day that had forever changed her. The day when she, her mother and elder brother had attempted to take the sacred Shikon no Tama from it's home in a human village. And failed horribly in the process.

The wide area near her shoulder still flared in a dull, black pain at this memory.

Kikyou, the priestess that had then guarded over the Jewel, had killed her mother and her eldest brother. The priestess had almost killed Yuuyake that day as well. And that wenchcame deathly close to finishing her off, too.

Yuuyake cringed remembering the pain that surged through her veins, filling every crevice of her body with a feeling of being ripped apart from the inside, out. It felt as if it only happened yesterday, with pain this intense. Most of the it, however, was from the failure that she alone faced now. Their lives had been wasted. They hadn't retrieved what they went there for and now, out of the three, she was the only one left alive to share with the rest of her family the news. It was truly a miracle, though, that Yuuyake had escaped and survived the encounter with the miko that had taken the lives from countless demons with only her bow and a quiver of arrows.

Yuuyake trembled remembering the encounter and somehow managed to calm her nerves, looking up to the sky and exhaling. Above, puffy clouds were drifting slowly through the sky that was now a bright blue. They reminded her of smoke, white smoke. The same smoke she had seen that day.

She knew that somewhere above her, just far enough out of her mind's reach, her family stood gazing down at her and the rest of the family. Could they see her looking up at them, feel her pain? Hear her questions of life? Hear her ask herself what it must be like to die?

And that was another thought that rose on Yuuyake's mind constantly as it was doing now. Why hadn't she died that day along side her family? Why had she only been just lucky enough to bestruck with one arrow instead of three, like them? She was plagued with guilt that she hadn't died as well, even to this day. And somewhere deep inside, she knew that she would never heal, never forgive herself for what she had happened and lived to tell about. Sometimes she wished that the Gods would strike her dead, to take her life, to stop her eternal pain.

Pine eyes gazed back down to the world around her as the flowers danced in the wind. She plucked one of the petals of the pink flowers off of the great tree with a slow and somehow painful motion. Yuuyake sighed inwardly. Death was such a confusing thought to her.

On the one hand, death would bring her closer to the ones she had let down. She'd be able to repay them for her weakness, to give them something she couldn't have before. Now she was stronger, more focused in her tactics and own powers. She could be their savor as they were hers.

But then what of her father? She looked back sadly over her shoulder. She could never put him through the pain of loosing yet _another_ child. There was too much here for her to just leave with no regrets. Her brother was so young and still needed to learn much of what she could teach him.

But for some reason, even that didn't matter to her. She didn't understand why, she only accepted it. There was probably only one definite thing that kept her from killing herself. And that was-

A rustling of the brush shook Yuuyake awake and back from her thoughts. She backed away into the shadows of the protective collection of tall oaks, sakuras and magnolias, disappearing behind one of them, waiting patiently to find out what had made that noise. Her body began to gather energy and she channeled it down to her fingertips, now glowing an orange color with the fire that the energy could produce.

Fire. One of the deadliest substances around nowadays. It could tear an entire village apart and only a few could be capable of controlling it. It took years of practice to master the energy.

A fire demon. The rarest of all demons in the world. And the most she had ever seen were five, all of them her family, because all of her life, her family was the one thing she had ever known...

"Yuuyake?" came the somehow scared voice of a young boy she knew so well through the full green leaves of the tree. "Yuuyake come out. I know it's you..." The voice trailed off quietly, cowardly almost.

Yuuyake sighed with a smile and let the fire die. She stepped out from behind the tree, turning 180 degrees swiftly to face the young boy, herflowing midnight hair following suit, swinging around and breaking on her shoulder before becoming still.

"And what do you wish from me now, Kasaimaru?" Her voice was smooth and velvety as she spoke to her younger brother, almost taunting the young boy. From the light of the midday sun, her eyes shimmered a dazzling shade of pine green and she seemingly radiated in her white and purple robes. She suddenly realized how far along in the day it was and it almost scared her.

"Father's been looking for you," he said matter-of-factly, "and I know you know that. He sent me to find you."

"And so, at the moment, you are his little errand boy, are you not?" Yuuyake smiled simply at the cross expression on her little brother's face. It was rather funny how easily she could tick her little brother off. It was good to laugh. It reminded her that there might actually be something worth living for in the world. "Come. Let's walk and talk."

"You do not know exactly why father has sent me out here, do you?" Kasaimaru asked casually, looking around boredly at the scenery, the way only a young boy would, taking it all for granted. Yuuyake supposed they all did.

"Not really," she replied forwardly. "Did he tell you?"

Kasaimaru shook his head and smiled. "He didn't have to." He said shortly with that large ear-to-ear smile.

"No, I suppose not." She smiled as well, lifting her gaze from her bare feet out to the rest of the wide world.

"He only wishes to know whether or not you'll be around tonight."

"Probably not, Kasaimaru. I was planning on other factors," she said cautiously and looked away from him, thinking.

"That's not the reason," he said not looking at her, "but I shalln't meddle more, elder sister." He started to walk away from her. "Have fun and Father says no terrorizing villages. No, not even the small ones!"

She stared athim and couldn't help but smile before she walked off in the other direction, back towards the groove. Although he was younger, Kasiamaru knew Yuuyake well, even without his powers, which was amazing even now. They had always been so close up until the day long ago and ever since then, things have never been the same on her part. Kasaimaru was too young at the time to remember anything significant about the deaths of the family members and so she never worried about him changing. It was her that had definitely changed.

She lifted her head and traveled on.

* * *

Back in the grove of the sukura, all was peaceful and relatively calm, the wind weaving and lacing its way through the delicate petals and carrying their scent all around the grove. The wind toyed gently with her raven hair. The sky was now a bright crimson color, and then sun was laying back down into the blanket of clouds and purple mountains as she picked up another petal and started examining it. 

Her mind wandered again as it always did. The blossoms were so beautiful in spring, so fresh and pale pink. Then summer comes and knocks them off to make room for the actual cherries, so ripe and ready to fall when autumn comes and it is time for them to fall. Winter finally comes and freezes over everything, so unforgivingly. But then soon after the spring thaws come and the flowers are back again...

"One could be caught off guard out here, Yuuyake," a smooth voice drifted through the trees, causing her to flinch in alarm. The voice's body appeared from behind her in the leaves of the trees. He was a tall young man, about the same age as her with short black hair tied in the back save for his bangs and very bright, disturbingly blue eyes. Hisdeep bluerobes fit his tall frame perfectly and he wore a very sly smile.

Yuuyake spun around to face him as he came closer to her. "Nice to see you too, Makaze." She went back to looking down at the petal in her hands, a small smile on her face as his two arms snaked around her waist gently. Makaze put his head on her shoulder.

"I love sunset. It reminds me so much of you," he whispered into her ear, "so peaceful and beautiful."

She turned to face him, looking him deeply into the eyes and went deep into his strong, protective arms, wishing they could stand there for all eternity. The only place where she truly felt safe anymore. She felt like blurting out everything she felt to the demon boy but she held her tongue, deciding against it.

They stood as such for a countless amount of time before he lifted her chin and kissed her greedily. "Run away with me, Yuuyake. We can just drop life here and never come back." There was such excitement and hope in his eyes as well as his tone.

But Yuuyake's heart sank somewhat. She had known he had said it with all his heart and the thought was definitely inviting. She hated this place. There were too many memories and thoughts of the past that haunted this forsaken place. But what of her Father and her younger brother? What would become of them when and if she left?

"I'd love to," she said very slowly, looking into Makaze's bright blue eyes (_how strange his eyes are…_). "You know I'd love to. But what of my father and Kasaimaru? What would happen to them? My father cannot take care of Kasaimaru alone. He'd worry himself to death about me. I don't want to have him go through any more pain, Makaze. I can't do that to him."

Makaze sighed with a desolate smile, but understood. He knew what was going on, what her life was like, for he'd have been going through the same thing, only he'd been alone. Thanks to Kikyou, the priestess.

The Shikon no Tama...

It had also brought his family to its unfortunate demise. Yuuyake was the only one he had left and she was, indeed, very close to the family she had left, like he had been.

"Under any other circumstances I would. It's just…" she didn't finish or even look up at him but he understood what she meant. She pressed her head against his chest and felt like breaking down and letting the tears building in her eyes fall. Yuuyake closed her eyes and didn't speak, listening to the other's breathing and his strong heartbeat. Through it all, she wondered if he knew she was crying. She felt rather stupid.

"I know. It was a stupid suggestion," he sighed again. "I can't stand it here. There are just too many memories buried in this earth. Just the thought of escaping all the pain sounds inviting, does it not?" He asked hopefully, even though he knew the answer. "If not for you, I probably wouldn't still be here," he said referring to the deep scars of the purposeful slits running the width of his chest and arms where he had tried to cut himself open and bleed to death. He smiled down at her but it was full of masked desolation.

She nodded and understood everything. It had been many days after her mother and brother died that Makaze and his family of his mother, his father, him, his elder brother and sister had attempted to take the Shikon no Tama. He and his sister were the only ones to escape, for she, Yuuyake, had found Makaze and his sister in the forest.

Her mind drifted into an uneasy haze of memory as she remembered the first time she met Makaze.

She had been wandering through the forest many days after she had been shot with the arrow by the miko. As weak as she still was from her healings, she continued out of pure spite and wandered blindly into the forest.

Not long afterwards, she stumbled across a patch of frozen ground and as she looked closer at it, she could see that the entire area was frozen over. She stepped onto the ice and it melted beneath her bare feet. She continued deeper into the frozen forest, oblivious to any feeling she had about how safe it was that she was doing this.

Eventually, she came across what was causing the landscape to freeze over. There at the base of a tree, sat an ice demon, his short hair pulled back and his bright ice blue eyes burning onto hers. Even from where she stood leaning one hand against a tree for support she could tell his breathing was very ragged. She could also see that he had an arrow piercing him squarely in the chest, his shoulder and another at the base of his throat.

All of the arrows, the fire demoness noted, had a thick purple aura around them and were covered in blood that looked not even hours old.

She stared at him for a moment in wonder and she instantly knew what had happened to this demon. She took a step closer and was suddenly struck in the body and thrown back, off her feet, into the base of a tree, completely tearing into it, knocking it over with an earth shaking force. Animals scampered away for their lives.

A moment passed and she opened her eyes once more weakly, coughing and looked up out of the pile of crumbled and splintered wood. Yuuyake could feel a large piece of the tree trunk snapped and ragged in her back. Shifting her gaze, she could see a girl standing in front of the boy, crouched down guardedly. Her fingertips were glowing a hazy sapphire color and her clothes were torn and bloodied. She also had an arrow sticking out her arm.

Yuuyake stood up slowly, pulled the branch of wood out of her back, the tip in a good inch or so, covered in blood. She wiped off her clothing as the other got ready to attack.

"Wait," she said weakly to the ice demoness and coughed again from being so out of breath. Yuuyake looked past the girl, to the boy sitting down. "I mean you no harm." She coughed wearily again.

The ice demoness glanced back at the boy and then back at Yuuyake. "What do you want, wench? State your business with us," she shot at the fire demoness very icily.

Yuuyake glared a moment longer but decided to ignored the other girl's icy threat. Undoing part of her kimono just enough, she revealed the wide part of her shoulder directly above her breast, the part of her kimono where the scar of the arrow had just started to form, though she was careful not to reveal too much in the presence of this boy. "She tried to kill me too." Her voice was weak but calm, showing no hint of fear.

The elder girl's eyes softened somewhat as she saw the scar. "What's your name, girl?"

"I am Yuuyake. I am a fire demoness. I've just lost my mother and my elder brother and I almost died myself," she said in a low voice, looking sternly at the elder girl.

The boy at the tree was staring at her in interest. "Ma-kaze," he stuttered painfully, making both the women look at him. His face was twisted up in pain, Yuuyake could see. The other girl faced Yuuyake again and hesitated before answering.

"My name's Yuugao. I'm sorry for striking you down, Yuuyake, but the world is a very unsafe place and we must be careful, as you probably know." She sat down next to Makaze. They had the same eyes, she saw that from where they stood. She wondered if all ice demons had that same trait...

He exhaled a sudden shriek in pain as the arrows in his body pulsed painfully and violently.

"Makaze?" Yuugao looked at him unsure of what was happening, scared.

Yuuyake understood perfectly what was happening and there wasn't much time. The arrows were trying to kill him with their miko powers. She reached over and pulled out the arrow in Makaze's arm quickly causing him to yell out pain. He glared at her heatedly, manipulating the icy orbs so effortlessly, it moved her...

Yuuyake sighed, pulling herself out of her memories. "I know. If not for my brother and father, I'd leave this place forever."

* * *

Yuuyake laughed a small hint of laughter. 

Makaze looked at her. "What is it?" He questioned.

She smiled slightly, the corners of her mouth only twitching. She shook her head and looked out into the field in which they sat. "Nothing. I was just thinking of something." She leaned her head against his shoulder, blinking once or twice and setting leaves or grasses or flowers on fire with such ease.

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "Well feel free to share."

She sighed. "If you think about it, we," she searched for the words carefully inside her head, "shouldn't be as close as we are."

He hesitated, looking out on the land, chilling the flowers she just set ablaze, calming and cooling the fire. "How so?"

"Think about it. I'm a fire demoness and you're an ice demon. We are opposites," she closed her eyes and yawned.

He didn't say anything, only stared off into the distance. The sun was behind the mountaintops in the distance far off but there was still some light. The field in front of them was bathed in a golden color now and lightening bugs darted back and forth from the depths of the tall grasses. Birds were calling out and he could hear some crickets chirping away and they probably would until sunrise came once more.

"But," she yawned again, "what should that matter?" She stated more than asked, finally letting herself drift along with the clouds into a very dreamy presence.

"It shouldn't," he put his arm around her back, slipping it down so that his hand rested on her hip, protectively. "It doesn't... Does it?"

She smiled up at him. "No. Of course not." She said before she drifted away to sleep.

He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead tenderly before leaning his head on hers and drifting off to sleep himself...

* * *

A/N: so...End Chapter one! yay? Review now! 


	2. The Keeper Of The Flames

A/N: Something I forgot last chapter. I don't own any of the Inuyasha characters. That fame and fortune belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. I do, however, own Makaze, Yuuyake, Kasaimaru, Okibi, Toorima, Yuugao, Yousei and whoever the hell else that I forgot.

Oh yeah! and that random squirrel over there. yes you... DON'T YOU SHAKE YOUR HEAD AT ME!...

e.e have fun. Enjoy. I DEMAND REVIEWS. e.e

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**The Phantom Killer  
Chapter 2: The Keeper Of The Flame

* * *

At dawn, when the earth was still dark but the clouds on the horizon began to take on a dull purple color, Makaze awoke. He sat up and looked tiredly around, trying to figure out about what time it was. The horizon signaled to the ice demon that sunrise was a mere hour away. **

"Yuuyake, wake up," he whispered softly into the ear of the sleeping figure next to him. "Yuuyake. Come on, Yuuyake. It's dawn now."

Yuuyake didn't stir from her somewhat peaceful slumber, her breathing still slow and deep. She smiled and murmured something he couldn't distinguish so early in the morning, even with his slightly pointed ears.

He rubbed at his eyes and looked down at her. Sighing, Makaze summoned his demonic energy to form around his hand, a glove of cold blue haze, chilling his skin. He laid his hand very gently on her arm, causing her to awake with a start. He struggled to hold back a laugh but failed.

"Makaze!" She rubbed furiously at her arm trying to warm it up.

He again attempted to hold back a smile but failed again, seeing the look on her face and her pursed lips. The boy reached over and kissed her lips gently, her mouth so warm against his.

He stood up and stretched out a little, avoiding her surprisingly icy glare. He looked out to the horizon where the sky over the tips of the jagged mountains had started to turn a pale blue. He saw two little birds dart through the field, swooping here, falling there and then raising again. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his love staring at them too, though her delicate features showed a blanker look. He couldn't tell what she was thinking buthe turned and extended his hand for her. As she took it and stood up, they walked back into the sakura groove, through the forest, heading for her home, talking in low whispers about what would go on tonight.

His heart raced at her words but he gave no indication of it. Instead he continued his pace, agreeingto their plans about later that day. He swore that every once in a while he saw her face flush a pale pink, just enough so that he saw before shenonchalantly tore her gaze away. The young man couldn't help but smile at this.

* * *

He left Yuuyake at the stone step of the hut, very quietly so as to not disturb her family from their sleep. Kissing her oh so gently on the lips and looking into her eyes so tenderly, Makaze left as quietly as he had come. Pine green eyes followed his form until he entered a grove of trees and was no longer able to be seen. Yuuyake's heart felt like it was racing every time she felt his cool lips against hers. How she loved him with all of her being. He was the thing that made her want to live more than anything. Her hand floated up to her lips where she could still feel his lips, the spot so tender she didn't want to leave or look away from where she was. 

But she blinked and figured she must look foolish standing there on her steps, looking after a boy that had already gone. She turned around with a reluctant sigh and proceeded into the house, sneaking a quick look over her shoulder at where he left, then looking back, smiling.

Now she focused her attention on the innards of the hut. The floor of the hut would squeak unless she was extra careful about how and where she walked and no one in her family was a sound-sleeper anymore. They had all gotten used to it. On her toes, the fire demoness past her father sound asleep on the floor. She heard him vaguely whisper her mother's name, causing her to inwardly sigh.

_He must be dreaming of Mother again_, she thought passing the sleeping figure on the floor that was her father. Yuuyake knew her father missed her mother terribly. How could he not? Even though her mother and brother died forty years ago, it was still hard to believe that they were dead.

There was that wave of guilt again. The feeling of failure was very consuming. It gnawed at her, eating away at her inside, making her feel as if she were going to be sick. She lowered her head, feeling a flush of hot red blood travel to her face in guilt and passed into the other room.

How could they have ever forgiven her? She wasn't strong enough then. How could she ever repay them for their lose? Was it possible? She touched her stomach gently and her mood changed slightly, thinking.

There was, however, one thing she could be happy about, she supposed. Kikyou had died a few days after the attack on Makaze's family died, killed by her own foolish lover.

The half-demon. She smiled slightly, maliciously happy. Fatewasnot without a sense of irony. That was amusing to her.

She entered the room in the back of the hut where her and her younger brother slept. Where Okibi, her elder brother was supposed sleep, had he still been alive. She sighed again, her face burning hot with embarrassment and rage. Stupidly, as she entered the room, she expected to find both of her brothers sleeping on the floor.

But surprisingly, neither of them was there.

_Strange_, she thought. _Kasaimaru should be here_.

"And where, pray tell, have you been, Yuuyake?" Kasaimaru's icy voice came from the far, dark windowsill. "Out with Makaze again weren't we?" His voice sounded almost teasingly.

Yuuyake eyed her younger brother, a strange hardened look on her face. "My affairs are that of my own, little brother," she replied smoothly and just as coldly. "Why do you ask such obvious questions? Questions you already have the answer to? You have the ability to read anyone's thoughts." She stared into his deep dark eyes, the eyes of their mother. And then looked away in guilt. "Besides," she said slowly and more calmly, "why are you awake?" She looked at the stretch of board in the room where Okibi would either be sitting up, laughing quietly at them for their childish arguing or scolding her for being out so late and coming home so early in the morning.

Okibi was always so strict, like a third parent. He was much older than Yuuyake, having more experience with the world and how cruel it can really be. But Yuuyake hadn't known until just recently, despite his warnings. He was wise and often spent time with Father, hunting, slaying and altogether being around him while she and Kasai had helped their mother.

He shrugged easily and hopped down off of the windowsill. "I couldn't sleep. I've been thinking a lot."

"About?" She sat down on a blanket that lay on the bare floor, easing herself so as not to make much noise on the creaking floor, though it creaked none the less. She looked around nervously for fear of her father awakening.

"Well, Mother for one," he paused, seeing his sister flinch somewhat and close her eyes, "and Okibi for another." He said it quietly and bowed his head, ashamed with himself,displaying it clearly on his young face.

"I see," she said quietly, looking up with a masked look of desolation displaying on her features. Her eyes avoided his, goingcold and focusing on the blank, empty spot in the room. Kasaimaru saw this plainly on her features, even without invading her mind's precious thoughts.

"What was she like Yuuyake? I've been trying to remember but I just can't." he looked down and then back at his sister.

She smiled desolately back at him and signaled for him to sit next to her.

"Yuuyake, I'm sorry. You don't have to-"

"No," she said sympathetically, "I don't mind. Come." Her voice was soft and motherly, the thing she had to be for her little brother.

He sat down next to her with a light _plop _on the blanket. She put her arm around his lithe shoulders and tried to rake and sort through the memories, good and bad, that she had of her mother and Okibi.

Her voice was slow and calm, with hidden sadness that Kasaimaru could see cause her much pain. "She had incredible powers, even for a demoness. She had all of our powers combined, mind reading, controlling objects, erasing memories, and creating spirit barriers. Her fire powers weren't as strong as ours or Father's but with power such as hers, who would need them to be?" She looked down at her younger brother, who was staring into her dark green eyes and then looked back out into the gaping space of the room that wouldn't have been there if not for that miko, the space that would have been occupied by their brother.

She continued. "We all inherited some of Mother's powers. You can read thoughts and memories, I can create spirit barriers and erase memories and Okibi," she paused, sighing inwardly but carrying on strong again, "Okibi could control objects using his mind." She sighed and took his hand, palm up, revealing the dark purple orb engraved within his hand. "We were born with these, me, you, Okibi and Mother. They help us use our powers. Like these powers, we inherited these from Mother too. She told me that when I was about your age." She looked out into the space again and saw the first glimpses the sun coming up over the mountain peaks. It was going to be a beautiful day. Perfect for the anniversary of their family's death.

Irony again. The saddest point in all their lives would probably be the brightest one as well. How she hated irony. _Curse fate. Curse life. Curse death..._

"Yuuyake, what did she look like?" Kasaimaru looked up into her eyes, hopefully.

Yuuyake looked at her younger fire demon, thoughtfully. He was the lucky one of the two. He couldn't remember every waking detail of his life such as she has. She, however, could remember every pain she had ever felt, every memory that she had, and everything she had ever seen, down to the last detail. All because of her powers. She sighed again. Sometimes he was the luckier one, not being able to remember every painful detail.

"Well, she had long black hair. Her eyes were a very deep green, more deep than ours. Father said he used to get lost in her thoughts very easily just by looking into her eyes. She was always very cautious... even on that day. Her face was warm, always so warm. I remember one time you were crying as a baby, she took you into her arms and you instantly stopped. I asked her how she did it and she said it was something she'd always been able to do." she smiled now, more happiness than sadness, Kasaimaru gladly reported to himself.

"She was a beautiful woman, Kasaimaru. Very strong too, mind wise, anyway. Graceful as a song-bird. Her ways about life were a little strict but it was only for our protection..." She drifted into an aloud thought, saying to herself "Who would have ever thought things would have ended up thusly?"

"Ah, it's pleasant to see my children up so early," Their father had awoken sometime during their short conversation, "and together for a change." He looked at Yuuyake who only smiled innocently back, the sadness suddenly well hidden. "And why are ye two up so early?" he eyed them suspiciously.

They looked at each other quickly. "We couldn't get to sleep, Father," Kasaimaru answered for both of them. Yuuyake didn't look at him.

"Well, I'll expect the both of you to be up and around in a few hours, that I will. We have things to do today," their father declared, suddenly looking much older than he was, wrinkles in his forehead that neither of them had ever seen before, showing themselves now. "Try to rest for a little while." He exited the hut and went around back to the river that wound its way behind the small hut to bathe.

_Thanks_, she thought not looking at her younger brother, looking at him only subconsciously.

"No problem," he said, getting up and went to sit on the smooth stone step of the hut's entryway outside, following his father.

Yuuyake looked at the aging man as he left. His heavy black and grey robes billowed only slightly in the breeze. She heard him sigh and watching him leave the stone step and leave her brother there.

_He remembers_, she thought. _Father remembers what day it is. Though how could he not? His bride and a son died on this day many years ago..._

_Because of me..._

She lied down on the blanket and turned onto her side, trying to recover the dream she had before she was awakened by Makaze...

Closing her eyes, she became dizzy with sleep, as if she were on the edge of falling back into the dream. So she let herself fall.

* * *

It was spring once again. Sakura petals lay all around in the field, as if placed delicately in their chosen spots. The setting sun basked the land in oranges and crimsons and yellows more dazzling than gems. The eastern sky was already bathing in shades of blue and purple. The clouds reflected what was left of the brilliant lights, running perpendicular to the sun. 

All around, the grasses were humming with small bugs and lights, lighting the night air for the two demons. The rugged mountains in the distance were a beautiful sight as well, the sun's rays struggling to reach above them but drowning in the midst. A faint layer of dew covered the field, marking the approach of night.

Sitting next to her, Makaze had his strong protective arms wrapped around her waist, resting gently on her hips ever so gently. He looked both excited and nervous.

The girl picked up one of the fragile petals. All it symbolized, hope, beauty and faith all held in her hand. And she burned it without a second thought.

She smiled at the burning petal, at its screams of agony and pain, the symbolization still with it. It shriveled up in her hand, and she only smiled along with the boy.

Then the setting changed...

* * *

Yuuyake's eyelids flickered as she turned on the blanket. The white and purple robes she was garbed in tangled her up, stiffening her movement in her sleep. Somehow she manged to find a way to turn onto her back and almost up onto the other side of her body.

* * *

It was a small village, a human village. Her mother and Okibi were inside a small hut searching for something while she had been left outside to distract the humans the only way she knew how - Make them run about like chickens with their heads cut off. 

Yuuyake stared at the buildings of the village set ablaze, unnaturally. She looked at the huts and houses not yet engulfed in her demonic fire.

Her eyes glowed a bright scarlet as her hands glowed in an orange aura of heat and fire. From under her fingers slid a stream of orange light, hotter and brighter than any volcano. It lashed about at the houses that were not yet engulfed in the awesome fury. Soon these huts were also engulfed in flames, killing any and all of the pathetic humans inside.

How weak these creatures truly were, cursed with their short existence in this world. They didn't even deserve the chance they were graced upon this world. Why not kill them all right now? They were gunna die sooner or later.

She could see some angry villagers spotting her in the center of the village, causing the obvious chaos. They tried to fill her with arrow points,shooting arrows at her, but these flimsy arrows burned up before any of them reached her in her heated demonic aura. Other villagers were running amok, attempting to help each other out of the flames, or in flames themselves, helplessly trying to beat out the flames that this young demoness had unleashed upon them. But mostly to no avail.

The frenzy in the village began to get to her, the smell of burning flesh, the burned corpses on the ground, the screams... They had all gotten to her head. She smiled and flames flickered in her eyes and some of the huts of the village exploded with little fireballs rocketing into the air. She began to have fun terrorizing the village.

Her mother came out of a small shine at the other end of the small village quickly followed by Okibi, carrying something on an odd shell-like chain. She tried to get a peep at the legendary jewel but not even glimpses could be seen from the young man's strong grip.

"Quickly, Yuuyake," the woman shouted to her daughter from across the clearing, her voice calm and unwavering.

Just as instantly as it started, the trance was done. She now saw herself standing in the middle of the village, making a nearby house into a torch, nothing more. All the pleasure she had gotten from the torture had dissappated. A familiar voice called to her and she followed.

She ran after her family, torching their path from the village as she left, making sure no one was stupid enoughto follow them. Humans were predictable in most cases.

Quickly, she followed her brother. "Do you have it?" she asked nervously, a sinking feeling in her stomach. Somehow this wasn't the greatest idea. She knew this before they got there.

Somehow, she knew something would go terribly wrong. Again she looked over her shoulder, just to make sure.

The young man grinned triumphantly. "Of course we do!" His red eyes lit up, showing nothing but pure bliss. "At last! The Shikon no Tama is ours." He opened his hand and gazed down at the mystical jewel as if he were starving and this would somehow feed his hunger.

But the feeling in her stomach prevented her from caring much about the jewel for now. She was way to nervous...They weren't out of danger's grip yet. "I still think we should-" Yuuyake started.

"Prevent them from coming after us," her mother finished for her. It was good that she and her mother were on the same page somewhat. Now if only she hadn't even come here today...

The woman turned around, closed her eyes and focused all her energy into creating a spirit barrier. It took her only moments to summon up her deep, demonic aura. Yuuyake watched in a stiff gaze as she saw her mother's fingers rise up in front of her. A very faint purple web began to stretch and weave out from the delicate hands, stopping at an invisable wall. Now she was strengthening it.

As she did so, the air glowing a faint purple color, just as three arrows cut through the air, piercing the incomplete barrier completely,one striking the woman in the heart, one in her neck and the other one striking her in the forehead, each going straight through her flesh and appearing out the other side. The woman's blood sprayed from the wounds onto the forest floor.

"Mother!" Yuuyake screamed lunging forward but Okibi blocked her way with one of his powerful arm. Their mother's body faded away into nothing, leaving only the orbs that had been engraved in her hands and her clothing in a puddle of thick crimson.

"Put up a barrier, now!" Okibi yelled at his sister as three more arrows came speeding towards him. He stared at them, his eyes glowing madly redand they froze slowly in mid-flight,fallingharmlessly onto the ground, but still glowing in a mystical aura for a second more.

Yuuyake repeated her mother's routine and was encaptured along withOkibi and where her mother's body fell. She could hear frantic voices and screams rising up from the burning village.

"Keep firing, Lady Kikyou! Those demons have the sacred Jewel!" came a voice somewhere afoot of them. Soon afterwards three more arrows speed towards her brother and hit the shield, almost penetrating it.

"Yuuyake, I need a stronger shield!" Okibi said, squinting at the arrows, trying to stop them or even slow them down. As he did so, his eyes glowed a dark and dangerous shade of red that Yuuyake had never seen before. He blinked as the arrows fell at the base of the barrier. "Damn it!" He rubbed furiously at his eyes as if they burned.

"Okibi, this is the strongest shield I can make!" She yelled back to him, panicking over the screams of the villagers and the rush of the arrows. From the palm of her hand she sent a ball of fire that looked like a moonflower at the miko, who fired an arrow at it, cutting it in half.

Yuuyake stood stunned at the priestess's last move as Okibi picked up the Jewel quickly and shoved it towards his sister, half blinded, his arm covering his bleeding eyes. "Go and take it to Father! He'll know what to do! Don't stop until you make home. Do you hear me? I'll be right there. Go you foolish girl!" He pushed her away harshly into the forest as another three arrows sped towards him, breaking through the shield and all striking him in the heart, the throat and in the eye, spurting blood everywhere, killing him instantly. His stiff body fell forward onto his knees and just almost stood still before falling to the ground in a puddle of his own blood.

"No! Okibi!" Her eyes widened and her breathing was ragged as she looked at his assassin. The miko was glaring at her, holding back nothing of the hate she felt for the demon trio. Her eyes blazed into the others as the body of Yuuyake's brother faded away leaving nothing but the orbs in his palms, his clothing and his puddle of gore that had spewed out from the wounds. The young fire demoness glared back and the string on the miko's bow was still shaking as she took three more arrows from the quiver on her back and loaded them.

"Wench!" Yuuyake yelled right before all of the arrows whizzed through the air, one hitting her in the basin of her shoulder, sending her aback senseless and causing her to stumble, the Jewel flew out of her hand.

_No! I can't lose the Jewel! This whole thing would have been for nothing! Their lives would be wasted! Their deaths will be in vain_, she thought wildly as a sharp, piercing pain spread from the miko's arrow throughout her body. It began to pulse painfully and Yuuyake tasted blood in her mouth. The girl screamed in final pain. She tried to reach for the Jewel but already it was out of reach and she was falling to the ground. The impact of her fall jarred Yuuyake to the bone and she screamed out in pain again. There was a pulsing feeling spreading through her body. Her vision and sharp senses were beginning to fade. Blood from the wound stained her robes.

"Leave this village at once!" Kikyou, the priestess said in a low and dangerous voice as she loaded her bow with another arrow. "Or I shall kill you just as I have killed the others." She raised her bow so that the tip of the arrow was directly on Yuuyake's throat.

_I'm sorry Mother_, she thought finally and fled without the Jewel, stumbling back to her home.

* * *

Yuuyake's eyes flashed opened again and the sun was shining into them, causing her to turn onto her other side. She assumed she had fallen back to sleep while she recovered the dream from the depths of her mind. 

She no longer felt tired, at least. She sat up and yawned, blinking a couple times. She stood and went outside after a time, to have breakfast with her brother and father.

The only family left to her. She had long ago promised herself that with all the time she had remaining with her family, she'd spend it with them. She now knew how cruel the world truly was...

* * *

"Come here, Yuuyake," Father summoned her to his side and she obeyed. "Now. You are to practice using your shield technique. Now," he stepped backwards, giving her more room for the barrier, "destroy those trees using your barrier." 

She nodded and faced the trees as her father's hand left her shoulder but she still felt his eyes on her back. The dark purple orb in her palm began to glow lavender, gathering her life energy needed to produce this barrier.

The air around her hand began to glow and pulse with a purplish tint and soon it expanded until it touched the edge of the trees, with her in the shield's heart. Her hand pulsed again with the gathering of the energy and she stretched it out first moving the trees back and out of their deep roots, then she cracked them with the force of the shield. All the trees would need to break them is a little more energy. And so she gathered up a little bit more energy and snapped them at the base like splinters, three at a time, then the next six, then the next four.

This process was slow and grueling and it used up a bit of her life energy, but after a time, she managed to destroy at least twenty trees with that one barrier before it broke down and dissolved back into the air it was made in.

"Good," Father came back to her side. "Now, I've noticed that you're fire powers have been lacking lately. Now we shall work on them." He pointed to the other end of the clearing, the way that if you went far enough, it would take you into the forest of Inuyasha and if you went still farther, it would lead into the Village of the Miko.

"Burn that tree down," he pointed to an old willow tree. It was a large target, but it was very far away. She looked at her father but he didn't acknowledge her doubtful look. Her father backed away again, giving her room.

Yuuyake turned doubtfully towards the willow and gathered all the energy that would be needed to supply an attack that would burn the tree down from this distance. Her hair wavered with the gathering of the energy and she extended her arm towards the tree. A large stream of orange light flowed out of her hand in a straight line, spiraling, burning the ground in its path and striking the grove of trees on the leftside of the willow.

"Focus, Yuuyake," she heard him say sternly.

She felt her face grow hot in embarrassment and tried again, using a larger amount of energy and released it, sending herself aback with its force. She blinked and saw that the old willow tree (along with most of the trees around it) was fully engulfed in the inferno.

"Well finally," Kasaimaru said, announcing his presence in a bored tone of voice. He was sitting on a rock that emerged from the ground. He stepped off the rock neatly and walked towards them. She glared at him as he said, "Now, that's not very nice! Father! Tell her to stop being mean!" He glared back.

The old man looked from one to the other and sighed, "Stop this nonsense, you two." He turned to the girl. "Well that's all for now. You can go now. We send our greetings to your Makaze."

She bowed deeply to him and he returned it with a slight nod of his head.

_She has such potential. It's a shame she doesn't see it and focus on it_, he thought.

Kasaimaru walked innocently passed the exiting Yuuyake and as he did so, she attempted to slice him in two with her claws. He dodged her and ran, cowering behind his father for protection.

"Yuuyake!" the old man blared as she sped off.

"I'm outta here. See ya later," she gave a dismissing wave of her hand and she was off, entering the deeper part of the woods, towards the Mori no Inuyasha.

_I don't know what I'm going to do with her_, he thought to himself.

"You could always disown her as your daughter," Kasaimaru suggested, finally finding his voice, only earning a glare from his father.

* * *

A/N: Ok. End Chapter 2. Yeah. Things start picking up next chapter. I promise. I added more to this chapter than there originally was. Hope you like it. 

Post. I mean Review. Is it worth it?


	3. Trouble In Almost Paradise

A/N: Ok a little warning. There is talk about rape in this chapter, not graphic, but still. So if anyone's (in the eternal words of Emily M) Squeemish, I'd suggest you be careful...

* * *

**The Phantom Killer  
Chapter 3: Trouble In Almost Paradise** **

* * *

**"I suppose I must be thanking you, half-demon," Yuuyake said quite reluctantly to the figure "sleeping" on the sacred Goshinboku, an arrow piercing the boy's chest, pinning him to the tree. The wind rushed by them and his pointed dog ears, causing a lock of his white hair the loop over his still, blank face. 

Only a half-demon. Imagine! A half-demon killed the miko that so many demons lost their life to. And yet this half-demon killed her. Some part of it didn't seem fair, not at all.

She was supposed to kill Kikyou. Yuuyake had held the biggest grudge against the priestess. If Kikyou hadn't died before Yuuyake had time to heal, Yuuyake would have killed wretched woman. She clenched her fists by her side and after a moment or two of glaring up into the sleeping face of the boy, she released them, rivlets of blood dripping down her palms, over the orbs that lay engraved withing the centers.

_All well_, she thought, walking away from the God Tree. _Maybe you're not so useless after all Half-demon_.

The idea of Kikyou's tragic demise amused her greatly. A virgin priestess with the most sacred powers around had fallen in love with a half demon. Not human, or even demon, but a hybrid between the two. As the story went, Kikyou was fooled into thinking the demon actually cared for her when in reality, he cared only for the sacred Jewel entrusted to her. Legend had it that she was to give it to the hybrid the day she died. But Inuyasha ended up taking it from her as she was delivering it to him. He had given her a fatal blow and ran off with the jewel. The half-demon then staged an appearant heist from the shrine.

But something went wrong with his plans, as always. Kikyou had not died instantly nor been paralyzed, but pulled herself together and went back to the village, gathering a bow and arrow on the way. She found Inuyasha fleeing with the Jewel and shot him in the chest, pinning the one she loved and the one who betrayed her to a tree. Inuyasha died into a spell on the tree and Kikyou died soon after, but not before the wench ordered the Jewel burned with her body. And so it was done.

How foolish human plans turn out to be, based solely on arrogance and love instead of strength of mind. Kikyou had been blinded by a false wall of love, displayed only for Inuyasha to get what he wanted, the Jewel. That's why the two breeds should never mix. Humans always react on their feelings. Demons react on their skills. It was a doomed paring to begin with.

She emerged from the Mori no Inuyasha. The blue skies of mid-spring had all but turned to a dull winter's gray. At that point, it did something strange. It began to swirl blackly, rumbling with a steady force. Lightening weaved in and out of the black clouds, giving small flashes of light. All about, birds chirped madly between booming rolls of thunder. The leaves of the trees rustled roughly as a strong wind blew at her back, tossing her long black hair over her shoulders and into her face.

Yuuyake, however, took no notice to the sky or any of the happenings about until a lightening bolt reached down and struck the ground where she would have stood had she taken another step. She hadn't flinched from the booming of the thunder, on the contrary. She sighed and turned around reluctantly.

_Why today?_ She asked the Gods. _Of all the days, why this one day? Do you not torture me enough already_? She stopped her pace.

She sighed again, shifting her eyes from the sky to the heart of the storm. "And what do _you_want?"

"What do I always want?" came a voice from the clouds.

Another flash of lightening and there was the boy with the big scarlet eyes staring her in the face, lust writen plainly on his chisled features. The boy's face was quite tanned and he sported a bit of armor and clothe, making him look quite rich. His long black hair was in a braid that hung near his neck. He was floating in mid-air with wheels of fire at his feet. The boy grinned at her, revealing his white fangs that extended well past his regular teeth. "I want you, Yuuyake." He made an attempt to stroke her face lovingly.

She rolled her eyes at him and walked on passed him, but he followed her every step, floating on at her side.

"Hiten, please," Yuuyake said annoyed with this boy's constant pestering. Disturbed, really. "You wish to tell me that out of all the women you have courted, you wish to have some one who has no interest in you?"

"Ah, but you are different," Hiten whispered into her ear, but she only swatted him away as if he were some sort of bug. "You are the only woman who has ever rejected me!" _Playing hard to get again, are we now?_ He thought to himself, smiling even wider. She was so good at it and had always admired her for it.

"Exactly! So why do you pursue me, although you know that I am not yours to ever have?"

"Speaking of which, have you even_attempted_ to birtha sonwith that Makzee yet," he asked very bluntly of her. She shot daggers at him.

"I beg your pardon. That's none of your buisness, Hiten. I'm not answering that," she said shortly and turned away. _As if this day wasn't bad enough_, she thought crossly, her fingers begining to glow._No. Add Hiten to the day to make it even worse for me. _"My buisness is that of my own."

"All well. Suit yourself, I suppose." He fell back on a cloud that had formed near him. "It's just another thing that I can pursue you about." He smiled again, showing his fangs. "It would be different if you were with me." He eyed her entire body and smiled again. Sitting up, he approached her, being so close that he could feel the heat radiating off her skin. "So what do you say, Yuuyake? Come be my bride."

She glared at him and created a barrier between them, the magic surging through her hand and splintering off in each direction and spreading to make the barrier solid, Hiten on the outside. The demon reached for her angrily, his eyes glowing but his hand was deflected sharply. He pulled back his sizzling hand.

_Damn it_! He thought, looking at his burned hand._Damn wench! Her with her cursed barriers..._

She turned to face him and the barrier broke down and dissolved. "There is an upside about being me." There was a slight smile on her face as her green eyes stared at the other.

"Brother Hiten?" A wavering voice came down from the juggernaut of black clouds, lightening weaving throughout them, leaping from cloud to cloud or from cloud to ground.

Both demons looked into the clouds from where the voice had fallen. Peering over the side of the cloud was an odd shaped head with small, beady eyes, watching the two, apparently throughout their entire conversation.

"It seems, Hiten, that you have of responsibilities to attend to. You cannot forget about your little brother." She flashed him a sly smile and turned to leave once again. Hiten glared dangerously up at his little brother. He turned his attention back to the departing Yuuyake.

"This isn't over!" He said angrily and grabbed her arm, pulling her closer to him so that her body was touching his.

Yuuyake looked calmly at the boy's hand, gripping her arm and then back into his shallow red eyes. Her eyes narrowed on him.

"Oh? I think it is." Her eyes glowed crimson and the skin on her arm under his hand burst into flames, burning his hand off. He pulled his hand away quickly and cursed a few times.

_Damn her_. He thought as he retreated back to the clouds he had arrived on with Manten, the fire flaring at his feet as he rose. "I shall see you again soon, Yuuyake! And things will be different. You'll see!" He called out to her as he and Manten retreated, dragging the thunderclouds along with them, revealing again the bright blue sky of mid-spring.

"One day, I'll have my way with her, Manten." Hiten said to his younger brother with a grin, though he didn't look at Manten when he spoke. The angry expression lie unhidden plainly beneath the false grin.

Yuuyake sighed in relief and continued. Why had Hiten always wanted her to marry him, when he always had plenty of women to flirt with? She stood glaring up at the clearing sky.

_Probably the more he can't have it, the more he wants it,_ she thought bitterly _Greedy bastard_.

She sighed and rolled her shoulders, the alight part of her arm dying down to reveal her impenatrablerobes unburned. Yuuyake dusted off that part of her sleeve and adjusted her outfit. Meetings with Hiten always proved to be more trouble than they were worth, for they were worth nothing.

She closed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. Inside, the raging fury that she had kept contained for the day rumble, threatening to break loose, slipping down into her fingertips. She extended her arms out to the sides as her fingertips became white-hot with a mixture of emotions and fire.

Her eyes flashed open and fire exploded from her hands, surging out it waves, overtaking anything in its way. The crimson tint of her eyes died slowly as did the fire and emotion that were being expelled from her body.

It had taken her about ten years to master this technique, using ever since her Mother and brother had passed into the next world. It was the only thing that could prevent her from killing herself. She couldn't trust herself being alone with either her emotions or her thoughts. The result, if she did would be disasterous.

Hiten was actually quite lucky, she started to think. Yuuyake had hardly ever told Makaze about their meetings. The ice demon was very protective about her. She had told him once and not long after, Makaze and Hiten were at each others throats, litterally. Makaze had succeeded in driving Hiten off, but Hiten never quit. Never. She didn't know why she didn't keep telling Makaze. But it didn't matter. Hiten didn't matter.

The latest meeting with Hiten had only encouraged this approach. Though all her anger expelled, there was still some nagging feeling she couldn't rid herself of. She tried to push it aside. Hopefully the feeling would disperse upon seeing Makaze. Disperse with his unique touch. She could feel her face flush with heat.

She would never be with anyone other than Makaze. Never. She had promised herself that long ago. Makaze was the only who had always excepted her, made her feel like someone. Even after all her wrongs...

* * *

"Are you okay, Yuuyake?" Makaze looked down to her. She was acting awfuly strange rescently. As if almost scared, nervous. He crotched down on the the branch he was on, gripping the branch with one hand. 

Her blank eyes looked up at him from where she sat, leaning against a magnolia.

She didn't really know whether she was okay or not, to say the truth.

She nodded, however but didn't look into his eyes. Instead looked down at her lap. "Yeah fine." she tried not to make her voice sound far away, and gave him a half-hearted smile. She toyed with a dandiloin in her hands, almost nervously.

He stared down at her for a minute or two, and then jumped down from his perch on the branch of the tree where he was making dangling ice crystals from the blossoms.

"Yuuyake," he said, seating himself on the grass next to her, staring into her eyes,"I've known you long enough to know whether something is bothering you or not." He looked into her deep, green eyes that had been trying to hide something from him, but failing as they always did. He searched them."What's wrong?"

She took a breath and thought she must have been stupid to think she could keep anything from Makaze. "Are you..." he began very slowly. "Are you having...second thoughts?"

His eyes. They held more magic than she herself did. He could see through any of her masks and he was probably the only one that could. This was another one of the reasons why she loved him so dearly. He was the only one who could actually read her, understand her, take the time to hear what she was thinking as she did for him.

"No. It's not that. But what it is, I don't know exactly," she said slowly, looking at her lap again. His eyes were also too hard to face, too powerfully soft, too deep and penetrating. "Maybe it's just memories or thoughts. It's hard to decipher." She sighed and looked into his eyes, which were watching her cautiously. "I keep getting the feeling that something bad is going to happen."

She hated that feeling, the feeling that put a sword through her stomach. Or an arrow in her chest...

* * *

"We shouldn't be doing this, Okibi," she said as the three proceeded towards the village of the Miko, a very dangerous mission indeed. 

"What are you talking about, Yuuyake?" Okibi looked back at her as if she were some young, misunderstanding child. "Do you not want the sacred Jewel?"

"Well-" she started reluctantly only to be cut off.

"Don't be daft, Yuuyake." He turned back around without letting her answer.

That's Okibi. He was very brave and never let anyone think any different, even if he was truly timid. There was also no reasoning with him. He was just to determined.

Yuuyake tried to go to her mother. Hopefully she would listen. "Mother, please say that you know this is a bad idea."

"Yuuyake," she didn't look at her daughter. "We need the sacred Jewel." She continued to stroll purposely through the forest, leaving her struck and hurt daughter standing there, staring. The woman's only daughter trailed after them, her head hung low as she went.

Yuuyake's words had fallen on deaf ears. She began to let her eyes fill with tears. She had blamed herself for their deaths. If only she could have said "not today" or thought of another reason not to go. It was her fault they were dead.

* * *

_No._ She thought crossly. _It was Kikyou's_. 

Makaze took her hand, bringing her back from such a vivid nightmare.

"I'd die before I let anything happen to you," he smiled slightly, trying to cheer her up a little bit.

"I know," she said quietly. And the thought of that scared her, rather than cheering her up. "And I for you." She faked another smile for the demon boy.

_But still…I can't shake that feeling. Something bad is going to happen, I can feel it._

"So, what's the purpose in the stone engraved in your hand?" Makaze asked curiously, touching the orb in Yuuyake's palm. "I don't believe you've ever told me."

Yuuyake looked in her hands at the dark purple orbs fixed in the centers. She smiled for no apparent reason. "They control my powers," she said shortly.

"Which ones? Your fire powers?" He looked down at his hands. "Shouldn't I have those for mine then?"

"No. My other powers. Watch, put your finger on the orb," she said and he did so. She gathered up some energy and focused it, channeled it to her hand. The orb grew a faint purple color and Makaze pulled his hand away quickly, shoving his finger into his mouth.

"What's wrong?"

"Oo didn ell ee i wa uppoe oo be OT! I almo bured my inger o," he said with his finger in his mouth.

"I didn't know it was supposed to be hot!" She tried to stop from laughing. She smiled at him innocently as he took the finger out of his mouth.

"You alright?" she asked him, still holding back from laughing. _An eye for an eye_, she thought amusingly.

"Yeah, fine. Plenty more where that came from," he shook his finger. "Doesn't that thing hurt? I mean it's an orb in the middle of you hand. And it's hot!"

"No. I was born with them. We all inherited some of our mother's powers and the orbs help us do our tasks. Kasaimaru's glow a faint white color when he reads minds, mine and Mother's always glowed purple and Okibi's would glow a reddish color when he controlled things." She looked out into the field, lit up with the bright light that drifted down from he heavens. A bird swooped down after another and they raced back and forth and playing a game, while the desolation she felt inside only deepened.

"You never talk about your elder brother. Or your mother for that matter," he said quietly after a time. He wasn't looking at her, instead his gaze was glued to the field that this tree over-looked.

"Can you blame me for not doing so?" She looked into his bright blue eyes. So disturbingly blue. Like ice… Clear and strong as well...

"No, I guess not," he said and leaned back with his hands behind his head. She looked back at him, laying there peacefully in the field and wondered how he could be so carefree, when all of his family had died in a manner such as what happened with her family. She was the reason why he could rest so peacefully.

* * *

It was springtime again as she walked through the forest, the bright light filtering through the leaves of the canopy, striking the ground in spots quite violently. It was a relatively warm day, though where she was headed, it was bound to be cold. 

Very cold.

She walked deeper into the forest. She went back into the forest to where barely any light shown at all. All was dark and dense.

As she predicted, the forest floor and the trees had completely froze over, though as she walked, she melted and thawed the ice with the natural heat that surrounded her, a fire demoness. The little light that had been inside the denseness reflected off of the ice and made it seem a little brighter than it was.

"Name yourself," came the cold voice of the demon that awaited her arrival, patiently.

"Take a wild guess who it is," Yuuyake said sarcastically. His protectiveness was rather normal. She had actually grown to like it.

"Oh, it's you, Yuuyake," his voice became calm but not icy. They had been meeting each other in the forest for quite some time now. They had become the best of friends in the short time they had known each other. Yuuyake had also found him somewhat attractive too, though she never brought this to his attention.

Her form appeared out of the dark almost mystically, the dim light casting a very odd light on her.

"Yuuyake," he paused for a minute, not looking at her. For some reason, he thought she looked differently, more beautiful. He was instantly reminded of his sister Yuugao, but pushed that thought away as quickly as it had come. Thinking about his sister only brought pain and the disturbing images of her death along with it. Speaking of which-

"What, Makaze?"

He hesitated again. "I wish to ask something of you."

"Well, go for it," she said simply, seating herself right next to him, placing her left arm down to catch herself and wincing in pain from the wound that was not yet healed.

He watched the enchantress out of the corner of his eye, never quite taking his gaze off her. "I want you to take away my memories," he said very slowly.

Her head snapped to the side to look at him, seriously. Had she heard him right?

He looked into her deep green eyes, his eyes showing no sign of fear nor sarcasm. "Would you do that for me?" The thought crossed his mind again and he tore his gaze away.

Yuuyake looked at him oddly. "What?"

"Look. I know you can erase minds," he said in barely more than a whisper.

She looked at him for a while and then looked away. "Of course I could. But why would you want me to take them away? I mean, I use it as a last resort... A defense technique. A difficult one at that."

He still didn't look at her and sighed, relaxing his shoulders somewhat. He turned and looked down at her hand on the ground. "I saw my sister die," he said looking back into her eyes. "I saw her getting," he paused painfully, "raped and beaten to death, Yuuyake." He looked away, down at the frozen ground, at the little bug that skidded across the ice.

Yuuyake said nothing at first; just looking at him seriously, knowing he wasn't lying about what he was telling her. It had been quite a while since she last saw Yuugao, and he'd been acting strangely since. This must have been why. She placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch.

* * *

Yuuyake looked back at the boy stretched out in the grass, his eyes were closed and his hands were behind his head. 

She started to smile when something struck her. _Something's wrong_... her minded rambled dangerously, _seriously wrong_.And there was that sinking feeling in her stomach, stronger than ever now. She stood up slowly, her eyes searching the land for something.

Makaze opened his eyes and looked at her curiously. Her face was pale and she seemed (dare he say it?) scared. Yuuyake never got scared. She was always very brave. "Yuuyake?" he looked puzzled. "Yuuyake what's wrong?"

"Something's wrong. Very wrong," her voice was far away and low. She looked at him. "Remember how I said that I kept getting the feeling that something bad was going to happen? I think it's happening, Makaze." He eyes were slightly widened and she was trying to keep her voice from wavering, with little success.

"What do you think it is?" he looked confused. He stood next to her and gripped her shoulders protectively. He looked out over the trees to where Yuuyake lived. Dozens of birds flew out from the trees.

"I don't know. Come on," she pulled him along as they both ran quickly into the forest. No word was spoken of where they were supposed to head to but they both knew instantly.

Yuuyake's home.

* * *

A/N:...SCHOOLED! ...yeah. Chapter 3 done. and look! It's a cliffy. Anyway. Review. 


	4. Figure In The Baboon Pelt

A/N: oooo. Sai got lots of reviews last chapter. I liked that. e.e

Chapter 4 on. Things start to pick up. The introduction of... :dramatic gasp:

* * *

**  
The Phantom Killer  
Chapter 4: Figure In The Baboon Pelt**

* * *

"Father?" the girl called through the hut, climbing in through the window in her and her brothers' room.

All was quiet. There was a very faint and unfamiliar slither coming from outside in the front. Then it was silent. Chills played on her spine.

"Kasaimaru!" Yuuyake began to worry. Where was her little brother? Where was her father? It wasn't like them to take off without telling her, or giving any indication of them leaving.

Makaze climbed through the bars in the tall window after her.

_I don't have a very good feeling about this_, he thought to himself, watching her search the hut for her family.

There was a sudden explosion outside then the crackle of fire. Makaze was almost knocked off his feet in force of the explosion. Smoke blew into the hut and his lungs, causing him to choke. He ran to the doorway and looked out into the clearing, trying to find the source of the explosion. His blue eyes widened.

"Yuu-Yuuyake?" he said slowly, taking a step back, his face covered with ash and soot.

Yuuyake appeared out of the other room and ran to his side. "What the Hell –" He heard her gasp quietly. She pushed past him before she finished, running outside to the mangled body lying on the ground.

"Kasaimaru!" she yelled to her brother and knelt next to him. What she saw left her speechless.

"Yuuyake?" The body of the mangled boy said, slowly. His face was badly bruised and bloody. His right leg was torn off and tossed aside as if it were part of a rag doll. Kasaimaru was laying in a thick puddle of his own blood made (no doubt) from his missing leg and the deep, gaping crater in his chest, where she could see his slowly beating heart.The yawning, lengthy slash in his neck still offered fresh blood into the air, as if it were a dying a fountain.

"I'm sorry, Kasaimaru! I wasn't here!" she said quietly to her brother in both rage and grief, tears gathering in her eyes as Makaze put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yuuyake, I don't know what to say to help you feel better," Kasaimaru said slowly and coughed up blood. His eyes rolled back in his head, revealingtorn veins within the whites. His eyes flickered back as his face twisted in pain."Father has already passed into the next world," he managed to nod toward the other end of the clearing. The ground was blackened and there was a slight crater. The trees of the surrounding area (including the willow tree she had practiced burning this morning) were either burned to the ground or blackened and pushed over out of their roots. Her father gave his life with an explosive array of fire to save his son but to no purpose. Yuuyake punched the ground, shaking the area.

"Who did this?" Makaze asked tight-lipped, almost as if he read Yuuyake's mind.

"A demon, Na-raku," he coughed out.

"I promise you, Kasaimaru, I shall take the life of this Naraku creature with my own hands," her voice held nothing but anger; her eyes were dry and blazing with hate.

"Well, I shall see Mother again, at least. I will spend the rest of eternity with her, Father and Okibi," he said in a low, dreamy voice. His eyes stopped moving and his chest rose once again and fell, but didn't rise again.

_He's dead_, Yuuyake thought slowly._ My little brother and my father are dead. Everyone's dead… This can't be happening to me. Not again. Not like last time._

"Yuuyake," Makaze said quietly as Kasaimaru's body turned to ash, leaving behind his dark green robes and the orbs that were born unto him in the center of his palms. They laid in a puddle of his blood.

She stood and took no notice of the ice demon standing behind her at first. She turned to face him. There was no expression on her face or in her eyes. It was if she didn't have a soul anymore.

He took her into his embrace and held her there for quite a bit of time, the entire time she spent in a trance that he couldn't break. He knew exactly how she felt. His heart ached as well. She would never be the same.

"I'm alone, now Makaze. There's no else except me and you, now."

Makaze said nothing. She began to cry silently, her tears falling onto Makaze's dark blue kimono top and seeping through, splashing his skin with her hot tears, though he didn't mind. He looked up at the sky after a while and to his surprise, it grew black before his eyes. Why?

"Yuuyake," his voice was barely at a whisper.

She looked up at him and followed his eyes, turning around to see what he was looking at.

Hundreds of demons lined both the edge of the forest and the horizon. All of the demons were hissing or snapping, some with glowing eyes and fangs drenched in blood. To her dismay, Yuuyake saw one of the demons chewing on the leg at the other end of the clearing. Makaze looked at her, but she didn't acknowledge his glance. She was watching the gathering and circling demons.

"My! How touching!" came a cold voice from the depths of the juggernaut of demons, and they all snickered. "It seems there are two left alive." A figure wearing a white baboon pelt came out of the forest, laughing maliciously. "Anyone still hungry?" A roar of approval took over the forest, shaking the leaves off the trees. Hungry eyes looked at them.

"Name yourself!" Makaze growled, letting go of Yuuyake who was also staring at the strange figure in the baboon pelt.

"Why, I am the demon you search for. I am Naraku," the figure said casually and smiled beneath the head of the pelt, his face not visible.

_Naraku!_ Yuuyake thought, her blood starting to boil. Her hair and clothing wavered in the growth of her demonic energy. Her eyes began to glow crimson. "You bastard! You killed my family!" she yelled, causing Makaze having to hold her back from attacking the figure.

Naraku only laughed at the girl's pitiful attempt to scare him. The demons gathered around him. "How true. And now it's your turn, the both of you foolish children!"

The demons surged towards them, fang and claws drawn. Yuuyake pulled up and gathered the life energy needed to create the barrier, the orbs glowing purple with energy. Yuuyake and Makaze stood back to back in the eye of the shield, holding back all the demons. Makaze Drew the sword at his side that had lain dorment for quite sometime now.

"I can't keep this up for very long, Makaze," she struggled to keep the barrier up against the hoard of charging demons, the orb in her palm pulsing painfully in pressure.

"Yeah I know," he was looking around, reaching deep within himself for the greatest amount of energy he could get. This battle would no doubt be the most strenuous battle either of them would ever be in. There were more than one thousand demons here in this group alone, and there were more joining by the minute.

"I just want you to know that I'm gunna put the barrier down now. As soon as I do, attack. This battle is to the death, Makaze. I'm sure you know that. They're after the both of us now." The muscles in her arms strained painfully and the barrier was only a few inches away from her fingers, coming closer every second.

"Right," the energy snapped and crackled at his fingertips, glowing blue and chilling the air. Yuuyake could now see her ragged breath within the barrier.

"And Makaze?" her barrier was starting to give way, and she put both hands up higher. Both of the orbs were pounding madly now.

"Yeah?" he looked at her through the corner of his eye. He could see her raised hands and the pulsing of them and the orbs within them.

"Whatever you do," she looked through the corner of her eye to him, "don't hold back."

He grinned as the barrier came down. "Wouldn't dream of it!" His eyes glowed red and the area along with the surrounding demons turned to solid statues of ice.

Yuuyake appeared out of the barrier with a blinding flash of light that came from her crimson eyes. She hadn't had the time to gather her energy up as Makaze had, but she improvised. Gathering up as much energy she could in such a short time, she let it burn at her fingertips as she sliced at the demons, igniting them with sharp flames that burnt through the demon flesh like paper.

Many demon bones littered her home's soil but they continued without hesitation, slicing, burning and freezing the demons, wherever they were. Yet the demons seemed relentless.

_Damn it_! Makaze thought. _There's too many_! He took the sword from one hand and traded it into the other hand. With an icy blue flash, the blade of his katana turned to a very thick and sharp blade of ice.

He sliced through the hoard of demons, occasionally seeing a glint of orange light nearby. "These demons are endless!" he yelled out to Yuuyake, freezing and slicing the demons around him with such a quick swiftness and accuracy.

"Yeah I know," she murmured, sending wave after wave of fire towards the swelling demons. She sliced at one demon as another came by. There was a sharp piercing pain in her shoulder as she tried to avoid one of the demons. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a long dragon demon's claw strike her shoulder. She yelled in pain, letting most of her attack die down.

"Damn it!" Yuuyake said, the demons gathering around her, mocking her, chanting her name scornfully. She stood there, trying to prevent the blood from falling, from attracting more demons, but with little success.

The creatures circled around her again and surged. She struggled with a spirit shield. "Damn it. I'm in trouble."

The demons vanished in a bright flash of a dull blue light, revealing a boy, glowing with a blue aura.

"You alright, kid?" Makaze asked, working on another section of demons.

She looked at like in a sort of tired look but then shook it off and nodded. "Yeah. Just perfect," she said sarcastically, lowering the shield.

_I won't stop fighting_, she thought slicing through more demons, their blood splattering her face. _I can't stop fighting. I promised Kasaimaru that I'd kill Naraku, to avenge his and Father's deaths_. The words Yuuyake spoke to her little brother replied at random all over her mind, giving her strength and determination to get to the heart of the demons. Where Naraku would no doubt be hiding.

Naraku simply smiled beneath the baboon pelt at the demon children darting back and forth through the cloud of demons. The woman intrigued him though.

_Foolish girl_, he thought. _She understands so little. Inevitablity will catch up with you._

This girl. She seemed to be becoming quite a nuisance.

Yes, her potential is great. If her true potential should be unlocked, there'd be no stopping her.

His mouth once again twisted into a cruel smile at the thought and then, as quickly as it came, it was gone.

She could have been a very valuable ally. If only I had thought things through. Now, she is too set on revenge to even consider. But maybe... He could still offer the choice. Life or death. _Hmmm..._

He watched her in interest. She and this boy destroyed any demon foolish enough to approach them. He laughed maliciously again at the fact that surviving this encounter would be extremely difficult. Death was inevitable. These foolish young demons will die.

_And it will be painfully slow. Oh, will it be painfully slow._

Naraku's mouth twisted up once again and the demons swarmed and surged at the two.

Makaze drew dagger-like shards of ice from his hand, showering the deadly shards onto the demons while still slicing through them with his katana of pure ice, the blade now dripping in different types of demon blood, red and purple being the most common.

_There are way too many demons here! Even if we succeed in killing most of them, double more will come to replace them! Is there no hope?_ He looked at the blur of purple, white and orange that was a viciously fighting Yuuyake. _She'll fight until she dies if it's needed._ He swung the katana at a dragon.

_Somehow, we'll come out of this. Somehow life will go on_, he was thinking when a not so random thought crossed his mind. Actually it was a thought that often crossed his mind, now more than ever. _After all this is over, I'll ask Yuuyake to marry me. We'll live like those of a story and –_

He looked over at her and the dragon demon caught him off guard, slitting his throat with the tip of a sharp claw. He cursed aloud, and his hand flew to the cut. It burned at the feel of his fingers (one of them burnt). The slit was quite long but not deep, but it was deep enough to bleed continuously.

"You all right?" he heard Yuuyake yell to him along with the sounds of her beating the demons back to Hell. The familiar sparks and roars of her fires spoke to him as well. She wasn't having much luck either.

"Yeah, fine." Blood had already started dripping onto his dark blue kimono and the cut burned when he breathed, but he continued. He couldn't just stop breathing nor could he just stop fighting. He had befriended Yuuyake's family and he was close to all of them (especially Yuuyake).

_I don't get it_, Yuuyake thought. _How many demons are here? Have we even made a dent? This is starting to get irritating!_ Her claws of fire cut into the large beast of demons, splattering dark crimson blood everywhere through the approaching darkness. The sun was setting, bathing and staining the land and demons with the color of blood…

_Irony again_...

* * *

To Be Continued… 

Yeah. Reviews would be nice. It was kinda a shitty, quick chapter but whatever.


	5. The Curse

A/N: WARNING: There is some conversation and talk about rape and sex in this chapter. Nothing too graphic.You have been warned! Also, Sessh comes in next chapter.

DISCLAIM: Nope. Still don't own them. Ma, Yuu, Oki, and all that jazz are mine. Back off.

Chapter 5. On. Right...(now).

* * *

**The Phantom Killer  
Chapter 5: The Curse**

* * *

"Damn it! Why won't these demons would relent already?" Makaze yelled to no one in particular, slicing wildly through the thick swamp of demons. He was finally getting very tired and could bet that, no matter how much she'ddeny it, Yuuyake was too. They had been fighting back numerous demons for an hour at the least, and they only kept coming at them. 

Makaze had been challenged by the same demon that had slit his throat earlier. Now the beast lashed out at the young man with an undying force. It was all Makaze could do was to defend and not attack. His strength was draining fast and now the sword felt made of lead, heavy and unable to be swung. He wavered in exhaustion, closing his eyes for a few seconds.

_If this battle drags on much longer, we won't be able to –_

Tired, blue eyes flashed open quickly but the demon was nowhere to be seen. He cursed, realizing what he had just done. They scanned the sorrounding area, now fully alert. Behind him there was a slithering sound, closer and louder than the others. Makaze spun and put up his sword in just enough time to catch the demon's open jaws. The fangs of the demon dripped with blood and saliva around the cold ice of the sword. The dragon pressed itself against the sword and pushed it toward Makaze.

"This is the end for you, boy. Prepare to die," the demon hissed through the sword.

"I don't think so!" Makaze pushed the demon away. The demon screamed an ear-splitting shriek and shot outits front clawed-arm.

_WHAT THE -_ Makaze saw the action a second too late. The claw hooked around his shoulder and sliced his entire right arm off at the shoulder. Blood gushed out from the wound and he screamed in pain, dropping his sword. The blade turned back to regular size and make.

"Makaze!" he vaguely heard someone yell. He staggered and fell to one knee, clutching his shoulder where his arm would have started.

_Damn it!_ He thought wearily, his breathing now ragged. _Damn it all! I can barely see_.

The demons were laughing, snickering at the ice demon. How pitiful he was! So weak and frail, just like that girl.

_He's in trouble_! Yuuyake thought wildly as she fought her way through the demons, getting bumped here and scratched there. The demons were gathering quickly and think around them. "Get out of my way!" she yelled, sending waves of heat and fire out in all directions, though that still wasn't enough to get through.

_I have to get to him! I can't protect him unless I'm over there. I will NOTlose_him_ too_!

"Makaze!" he recognized the voice now. It was Yuuyake.

"Yuu-yake?" he looked around slowly, behind the guard of his sword that he now held, unchanged, with his only arm, the arm that he didn't usually use for fighting. _She's trying to get to me_. His vision was increasingly blurry and the demons were gathering in closer, snickering, laughing and calling his name mockingly, their voices no more than hisses. He stood up to them, his katana with his only arm.

The demons surged once again. He swung the katana clumsily, hitting a couple. A purple demon that seemed no more than a blur hit his hand, knocking the sword out of it. The demons rushed passed him, scratching and bruising him. A long snake-like demon went straight through hisupper chest until it came out his back.

He screamed again and fell to the ground.

"Makaze!" she burst through the demons, killing all the surrounding ones instantly. There was an aura around her, though it wasn't orange. It was white and the color of her eyes had flashed from a deep green to bright silver, something he had never seen before.

He looked up at her and couldn't believe his eyes. He thought he was seeing the angel form of Yuuyake. _Her true power..._

She formed a spirit shield around herself and Makaze. The demons pressed against the shield and the orbs pounded in her palms, but it didn't meatter. Her pain didn't matter right now.

"Yuu-yake, is that you?" his eyes were closed and his face was twisted up in pain. Blood dripped out the side of mouth and his teeth were tainted red.

She nodded and could feel eye her eyes become full of tears. "Yeah. It's me, Makaze." She looked at him. There was a crater in his chest and his left arm was completely missing. And it was her fault."I'm sorry, Makaze. Please forgive me!" She began to cry.

* * *

"I don't want to live knowing I've seen my sister's rape and murder. I've tried to kill myself because of it," Makaze was looking down at his lap, his arms resting on his knees, supporting his head. He gave her his arm, showing her the new fresh slits on his wrist and revealed his upper chest to her, showing very raw and deep slashes. 

She looked away thinking as he fixed his robes. "If I erase your memories, I risk the chance of erasing all your memories. Including your good ones." She said at last, looking at him.

He looked away from her for a minute, thinking. "I have no good ones," he said in a low voice, lying. The only good memories he had was meeting her in the forest those many days ago. He figured that he'd have better ones coming…as long as she was around.

She sat there thinking for a minute and tore her gaze away from his bright blue. She could feel his eyes looking through her and she almost shivered. She turned to face him, but he was looked away, something written on his face that she couldn't figure out, a mix between emotions. There was anger, sadness, embarrassment and something that she couldn't quite see.

"Look at me and think of the memory," she said quietly.

He looked at her, something flashing across his eyes and then it disappeared. He closed his eyes and obeyed her. The memory rose on his mind so fresh it was as if it happened yesterday, almost bringing tears to his eyes. He brushed them away irritably.

"Is there a purpose in me remembering this?" he asked of her.

"Yes, actually. It makes it easier for me to erase the memory," she said closing her own eyes and placing her first two fingers on each of his temples. "Now don't move."

He opened one eye, looked at her and then closed it, bringing the memory forth.

Yuuyake's hands reached forward, reaching into Makaze's mind through her fingers. She felt him flinch but she continued. Makaze's mind was a misty blue color and it was full of memories. She flipped through the memories, thoughts and fantasies, passing them all looking for something.

She reached one of the thoughts and looked at it. It was a recent dream, maybe only a few nights ago.It was her, lying next to him as she slept in a field of high grass. She saw him kiss her gently and wrap his arms around her. Yuuyake saw herself smile in his dream and move closer.She passed this thought, though, smiling slightly and almost blushing.

She felt him twitch again. She was nearing the memory of his sister.

The girl passed memories of his childhood, the time when he first froze a pond, the time when they met, a time when he got hit by a man she assumed was his father. She even passed the time where he first learned to walk, but she had the strongest feeling he didn't even remember that. She passed many thoughts until she found it...

There was Yuuygao and Makaze, surrounded by five other men. Yuugao was naked and Makaze was kneeling on the ground, bleeding from the upper right side of his chest. His sword was yards away from him and the boy was being held against his will by two of them men, both quite larger in size than Makaze.

The leader of the other men, the one with green hair, kicked her in the stomach and then began to rape her, Makaze being forced to watch in horror, screaming at them to stop. The men laughed at him and kicked him too. One of them started tostab Makaze with a small dagger as he froze everything around him. From where she was, Yuuyake could hear the spurting of his blood.

"Go, Makaze! Get out of here!" Yuugao screamed painfully as one of the men started touching her and then kicking her in the face.

Makaze slipped out of the grip of the one of the men and spun around, tripping the other. The ice demon grabbed his sword and went after the man with the green hair, killing those who stepped in his way.

The man was still laughing and touching her as Makaze rushed up behind him and lobbed off his head with one accurate swing, as if it were made of paper. The head of the man along with its green hair fell to the ground and shriveled with an odd display of blood. Makaze's bright blue eyes were glowing with a deep crimson color. This was the scarriest Yuuyake had ever seen him.

The blade of the sword was dripping in a thick coating of blood as he turned it towards the other four. He growled at them and his body pulsed along with the sword.

The other men panicked at the blood spray and left, running as fast as they could away from the enraged ice demon. Makaze watched them go and ran over towards his sister's naked body.

"Yuugao! Yuugao!" he kept screaming as her body faded away to dust and blew away in the wind. Daggers of ice were sent everywhere in each direction as he fell over crying. He beat at the ground with his fist as if he were a child again, causinghis knuckles to bleed,asking "Why?" and repeating Yuugao's name over and over again.

Yuuyake stood there in his memory, stunned and breathing really shallow. She felt something wet slide down her face.

She summoned up her hands and dragged the memory out of his head and back into hers. She looked over the memory again and burned it, watching it shrivel up as if it were on a piece of paper. Now back in her own mind, her eyes burned and she couldn't think.

She screamed and let go of Makaze's temples, breaking the connection. Makaze's eyes flashed open and he looked at her as she shook her head. She could no longer see.

"Yuuyake? What's wrong?" he looked at her puzzled.

She took a couple breaths. "What can you remember about your sister's death?"

He sat there thinking for a moment. "Nothing, only that she died."

"Good," she panted. _Damn it_! She thought to herself. _I can't see_! "I'm glad for you."

"Yuuyake, what's wrong?"

She looked at him, but her eyes looked different, as if void of a soul.

"You can't see, can you?"

She shook her head. "It's temporary. It'll wear off in a matter of hours."

"Does this always happen to you?" he sounded a bit worried.

She nodded. "It always happened to my Mother to." For some reason, she could still see the image that she tried to burn, the image of Yuugao's death inside her head. The image may have been pulled from his mind, but it wouldn't be pulled from hers.

"I'm sorry," she heard him say. She turned towards him and immediately felt something soft on her lips. She was sure it was his lips on hers. He was kissing her. She blushed slightly butdidn't pull away.

Nor did she want to…

* * *

From far away, someone laughed. 

Yuuyake looked up and through the shield. The demons were backing off and the demon in the white baboon pelt was coming forth, laughing at her.

"You bastard. You will pay for what you've done to my family!" she glared at him, through the thick shield. Her tears were streaming down her face, boiling and disappearing before they reached the ground.

Her eyes were glowing crimson again and flames shot from at Naraku, but he disappeared along with the demons.

"Temper, temper, young Yuuyake," Naraku's hideous voice came from the shelter of the forest. "You should be thanking me, for I am letting you live," he grinned, now becoming visable, "at a price. You shall die very slowly, horribly, and tragic like your family before you. You shall never heal as a demon again! You'llnevertake your own life, child. You will live with your misery and despair for all eternity."

Yuuyake's body began to glow a faint yellow color, but she took no notice. She knelt next to Makaze, glaring at the figure, feeling helpless. Leaving the barrier would break it, making herself and Makaze more vulnerable to attack. Sitting her did nothing either. Her fingers cracked as she stretched them. Vengence would have to wait.

"We shall meet again, girl." The voice then faded away into the trees.

"Yuu-yuuyake," Makaze stammered, his face twisted up in pain.

She was kneeling next to him, stroking his short black hair that was now down, plastered to the ground with blood. "Yeah?"

"What – did he do to you?" there was anger and pain in his voice, the sound as if he would just be able to get up and kill whoever hurt her. Hearing it made her cry more.

"Don't worry about that now. You've gotta concentrate on getting better," there was a hint of hope in her voice.

"Yuuyake," he started slowly.

"You HAVE to get better!" she yelled and the tears came spilling out violently. "I can't live without you!" she leaned over and lay on his chest, as if she were a child again, her tears mixing with his blood.

_He's going to die_, she thought dully not allowing the full effect of what she was thinking set in. His previous words were replaying mockingly in her head. _"I'd die before I let anything happen to you." He'd die before he let anything happen to me…_

"Yuuyake," he said, his voice barely higher than a whisper. He kissed her deeply, beginning to cry himself. He put his hand in her hair, gently and held her for a countless amount of time, feeling her staggered breathing as she cried silently.

_Is this what it's like to die_? He mused. _Is this how our families felt right when they died_?

"I'm sorry, Makaze," she said quietly after a while.

"For what?" he coughed up blood and began to feel…cold. Even for an ice demon.

"For dragging you into this. All of this," she said. Even more quietly, she continued, "I almost wish we never met. That way, I wouldn't have dragged you into battle with me." She was avoiding his eyes, guilt built up in them.

"No y-you d-on't," he said simply. "I chose to help you on my own accord. You are the b-est th-ing that ever happened t-to m-me." He kissed her again. "Fate is a bastard. There's no way to predict it."

She was looking into his eyes now, blood and tears smeared on her face.

He had stared into her face so many times before. One of the times he best remembers, it was summer.

He was staring into her eyes, her playful eyes, feeling her light but strong body on top off him, though they were both wearing their clothing. He looked into her deep green eyes and he was slightly enchanted by her, though he would never touch her, no matter how much he wanted to. Yuuyake would choose the ways of her own body. He would never try to over power her and try to convince her to do anything she didn't want to.

But now he was staring into the same eyes, the same face and it dawned on him that this would probably be the last time he would ever see her again. He didn't want her to be sad. Both of their lives were full of disappointment and pain. He prayed to the Gods that she would move on.

"Yuuyake?" he asked, his voice getting increasingly lower, no matter how hard he tried to make it louder.

"Yeah?" She was holding his hand close to her heart and she could feel it growing colder.

"I want you to try and move on. Please don't dwell on my death." She said she would try.

"Does it hurt?" she asked softly.

"Not really. Not at the moment. Nothing ever hurts when I'm with you," he smiled at her gently but his face twisted up in pain again for a second. He could feel her immediately respond, raising the temperature of her skin, trying to keep him warm.

He then started to miss her terribly. He tried to remember her sleeping body against his own, the sound of her slow breathing. He remembered some nights; he would lay awake forever just listening to her breathing or just thinking about her.

But the more he thought about her, the more his heart ached to be with her longer.

The thick crimson puddle had spread profusely now, and he was very cold. He had lost way too much blood. _This is the end, I suppose_.

"Yuuyake," he said, his voice was very, very low now and Yuuyake almost hadn't caught what he said.

"Yeah?"

"It's my time to go now." He said it very calmly but his voice was almost gone.

"No! You can't go!" she yelled. He kissed her very deeply, his hand on her face, delicately.

_Her lips are warm, just like the rest of her_.

"Makaze?" She whispered, her hand with holding his to her heart.

"I love you," he said dreamily, "my sweet Sunset."

"I love you, too, my dear sweet Makaze." Her grip on his hand on her heart tightened slightly in pain.

He smiled once again at her and then it faded. His eyes closed and never opened, his breathing slowed and then stopped and Yuuyake could no longer feel his heart beating beneath her. His body was now cold and limp.

Then it started to fade away, leaving his clothes and his broken katana at the other end of the clearing.

"No! Don't take him away from me!" she begged, but it all happened so fast to her and his body was gone.

_He's gone_! Her mind screamed and ranted as if it were telling her something she didn't already know. She screamed and sent flames out in every direction out of pure anger, outward into the surrounding forest for miles.

She cried. She cried for her family, for her mother, her father, her brothers, Makaze: her lover and herself.

Her tears soon turned to blood as she lay in that spot where Makaze had whispered his final words to her, in a mixture of her own blood, Makaze's blood and both of their tears. The forest around her was burning rapidly.

_I'm alone. All alone. There's no one here. No one at all_.

She lay curled up in a ball, the flames of the surrounding burning forest licking harmlessly at her body.

* * *

To Be Continued… 

Yuuyake is Japanese for Sunset. Just for the record. I dunno whether I said that or not.

Name definitions:

Yuuyake Sunset  
Makaze Storm caused by the devil  
Okibi Blazing fire  
Kasiamaru Circle of fire (something along those lines)  
Yuugao Moonflower

...just for those of you who were wondering. Come on. You know you were...

So, Sesshy's coming in the next chapter. Not much else. I'm still writing the story, too. So, i can't even give away the ending cuz it's not a definate. There might even be an alternate ending. I'm not sure.


	6. When The Arrogant Collide

**A/N: Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I know I haven't updated in like 6 months. No need to remind me. I have my reasons. Sorry for the "inconvenience" and whatever. I have my reasons. Needless to say, this story will no longer be posted up on Only here.**

**Also I should have a short story up on Fictionpress under "Saiketsu" called "When Life Becomes Real" soon. It's about September 11th. I assume that I'll be putting my next story up on FictionPress too, "In Love and Death". But we'll talk about that when the time arises.**

**Another thing. Those who have read this story on Animespiral, however few there are, I don't have the original chapter names so I'm gunna wing it. However trust that these are the same chapters written by the same person. Me.**

**Anyway. As promised, Sesshomaru's appearance is made in this chapter along with a new character or two. Keep in mind, also, that the entirety of this story takes place BEFORE the actual Inuyasha story, in the 50-year period when Inuyasha was still cursed and Kagome still lived in modern Tokyo and knew nothing of feudal Japan.**

**Disclaimer: sigh How droll. Do we need to keep going over this? another prolonged sigh Sesshomaru's not mine. Yuu, Mak, Oki, Kas, and all the other names you basically don't recognize from the series/manga are mine. You know. Cuz I did make them up. So back the fuck off. Merci. O.o**

**So. On with Chapter 6. Now. Next. Whatever.

* * *

**

The Phantom Killer  
Chapter 6: When the Arrogant Collide

* * *

Five years. 

Five years before the strange girl appeared coming out of the dry well in the forest of Inuyasha. Five years before the hybrid between a human and a demon that had been pinned to the sacred Goshinboku revived, entering back into the land of the living.

Five years after, however, the young girl, born of demonic firepowers, had lost everything she had ever known and held dear to her heart.

She had lain there in a puddle of dried blood, not all her own, and cried without the ability of getting upon her feet and moving on. No. She stayed there until she proved her worth in the world and the weakness she suffered, coming to a bitter end of death upon her own home lands.

But five years isn't a long time at all when you live for eternity…

* * *

The man sighed almost under his breath in annoyance. His grip on the railing on the balcony tightened until his strong hands turned and even paler shade of white at the knuckles. Below the balcony, his gardens and property spread brownish-greenly around the castle, dotted with white spots where his maidservants stood gardening and planting. Why he kept them around, the gardens and those that care for them, he didn't know. It was a tradition his mother had, one that he assumed he was to continue. 

But regardless of the bound-to-be "beautiful" gardens below his castle, the Lord had other matters that seemed to press more into his mind than anything else seemed to be.

_A place one can see… yet cannot be seen… A place its own guardian cannot look upon…_

The words played over and over again in Sesshomaru's mind, giving him no peace to the matter. Why couldn't he reach them, understand them, succeed them?

It had been over one hundred years since his father had come to his end. And in his mysteries, Sesshomaru, his oldest son, basked.

_Are there no other clues? Nothing to help me?_ And through gritted teeth, magnificent golden eyes narrowed angrily and he swept into his living quarters. Here, he took up his armor and put it around his fit figure with no help. He tied it together with ease as he had been doing for the better part of his life.

But as his clawed fingers passed over the sheath of his "great" sword, the young Lord stared at it for a few moments before wondering about it. He had been told of its powers beforehand, how his father asked for two fangs from his own mouth to be forged into two great swords. One sword was Tetsusaiga, the sword Sesshomaru now quested for. The other was Tenseiga. And Sesshomaru had been told of the Tenseiga, that it was a sword of life, one that could revive souls from the dead. But Tetsusaiga…

Sesshomaru picked up the sword, leaving his trail of thought and walked to the to shoji while he slid the sheath and its precious metal into his belt. As he left his rooms, he slid the shoji shut. A stoic façade slid into place as he passed through the inner halls of the castle, passed the few servants that were about, down the two flights of stairs, all done while thinking.

Why was he, the heir of the Western Lands, given a worthless sword that could never kill? And why was his better heirloom, an even greater sword, hidden without so much as a grateful hint as to its whereabouts?

_No matter_, he decided very reluctantly after only looking out upon the lands that were now his own. _Soon I shall find its secrets and I will be almighty. More so than Father ever was._ On this he walked through the open doors of his palace and out into the raised courtyards, ignoring the wisps of conversation his sharp ears always seemed to catch from his servants.

* * *

"My Lady?" A squeaky voice called through the trees followed by its form. The voice belonged to a small pixie no bigger than a human hand with blue sweaty skin and a nervous way about her. The creature wore far too close to nothing and had a pale shade of spiky green hair, and yet got far less attention than she wanted. 

Regardless of what the small fairy yearned for or wanted from life, she knew what to do and what not to do. Disturbing her mistress was not one of the things that should be done. The mistress hated being bothered, especially while in the middle of thinking or doing something, for she had a dangerous temper.

The fairy gulped audibly, her skin now crawling in sweat and her wide eyes as alert as ever. "M-my La-dy? Are-are you there?" the pixie called about, her voice cracking and shaking.

"What is it, fairy?" That voice pressed against her nerves, sending shivers down her scrawny back. She turned and found glowing red eyes breathing down her skin, glaring at her. Another wave of shivers rode along her back.

_So cold_, thought the pixie. _The eyes of the Underworld hold more warmth than her stare_.

"My Lady, I have news," said the pixie, gathering her courage and hoping for the best as she approached slowly, staring directly into the shaded face and glowing eyes of the woman before her.

"Speak, fairy," the mistress sighed dully, shifting her legs off the branch of the tree in which she was sitting, letting her legs dangle.

"My Lady, I just came from the sky. The clouds have all but turned to dark with much rain and lightning! My Lady, h—"

But the dark figure cut off the fairy with a swift fluttering of her hand. "Speak no more." And with that, the young woman shifted completely down and off the branch, dropping a tall hut's height and landed lithely on her feet.

Garbed in a black kimono with red streaks every so often, the mistress was a young woman with long, straight black hair with blood red streaks. To any a mortal's eye, she seemed no older than seventeen years, though her demonic heritage said otherwise. Her clawed hands were fair and the talons blackened. She wore nothing on her feet, sandals, boots or otherwise and carried nothing with her, no sign of her profession or rank. But upon her pale, beautiful face, her deep purple eyes held a scowl in place, proving her irritation.

_Thunder Brother_, she fumed silently as the light sky of early spring turned and churned to a dull black like that of night. Around the mistress, birds flailed out of the trees in the forests on the outskirts, fearing the storm that was brewing. Nothing, however, was compared to what she felt boiling in the bloodunder her skin, the anger, the hate, the temptation of murder…

But the young woman stood completely still and waited for the clouds to slow to a stop. "What do you want from me, whelp?" She demanded in a cold impatience as if she had been rudely interrupted.

"Out of all the riches and women and treasures in the world, you, my dear, are one of which I desire the most, and yet you treat me as such!" There he was, in all his false glory, perched upon a cloud, staring at her with such fascination.

"Am I supposed to be honored? Flattered? Impressed?"_ Behold, insolent whelp, the only woman alive you will never have as a bedfellow._

"Most women would," answered he.

"Well then go bother those '_most women_' and leave me be," she turned from him and began storming away. He, however, followed with the utmost lust.

He sighed. "Temper, temper, Lady Toorima," he almost laughed, pronouncing her surname in a mocking manner. "You should be polite to those who try to…befriend you."

Toorima stopped in her tracks. "I've not met a demon yet whose true intentions isn't to seduce me. And, mind you, Hiten of the Thunder Brothers, once I find those who try to 'befriend' me, I shall be sure to take you _kind_ words into consideration. But not until then."

Hiten sat back on his cloud gracefully, toying with the head of his weapon, the Raigekijin. "And what, pray tell, am I doing now?" The lightning demon gave her a look up and down and admired how her kimono wrapped her appreciatively.

"You are bothering me, Hiten of the Thunder Brothers, though the reason for it is beyond me. You have more women and whores than you know what to do with and yet you still pursue the ones that won't have you.

"Don't you have other responsibilities to attend to? Like a little brother?"

"Don't you?" He smiled, knowing he had struck a raw nerve.

And Toorima, living up to her reputation, held back nothing short of a murderous glare. The temperature around the two demons grew high and fast and the eyes of the young mistress began to glow a sharp crimson tint.

"Do not cross me, Hiten. I am more powerful than you can ever imagine." Not a moment after, Hiten's left arm combusted into flames, startling the young demon. Frantically, he beat at his burning arm with other hand, cursing her as he did so.

"Your curses do not work on me, foolish whelp, for I am already cursed," she fumed as she stalked away. "I am cursed by knowing you."

A bolt of immeasurably hot light struck the ground not three inches from her. This made her laugh arrogantly. She turned to see a flying Hiten with a fire in his eyes pointing the head of his glowing weapon up towards the clouds far above him. The flames that she set upon him were now down to a dull glow. Seeing everything about him made her laugh again in the same manner of boastful pride and walk away again.

_Oh Hiten_, she mused in a better manner now though her face returned to its usual cold countenance. _How deep can one's hate grow? Surely to the bone…  
__

* * *

_

"A place one can see… yet cannot be seen… A place its own guardian cannot look upon," murmured the young lord to no one else's ears but his own. Why was this task proving to be so difficult for him? 

Apparently, his father was really set on preventing his son from finding this heirloom of his. No matter what he had done so far, Sesshomaru was at a disadvantage. He could not use the fabled Staff of Two Heads, no matter what he did. None of the servants could either, not the ones that he had met. He could not find the tomb of his father anywhere without it.

And he began to wonder whether he would ever find the tomb. He wondered whether anyone had ever heard of the whereabouts of his father's tomb. His parents were obviously dead. Inuyasha was dead. Most of their father's allies perished in bloody manners and somewhere unknown to even Sesshomaru himself. It was almost as if his father had purposely done this, like there was purposely no other way of finding out where the tomb lay hidden.

_Father has done his work well_, he thought dully.

He glanced around, taking in the different landscape. Without his knowledge, the skies above had turned to a cloudy deep black, instead of the typical dull gray of early spring. The temperature was fluctuating between normal and too warm for comfort and birds flew crazily overhead. The blanket of clouds was thick with the smell of anticipating rain and there was a single flash of lightning.

Just one flash.

He raised a crafted eyebrow and suddenly he could smell something all too familiar.

It was the faint smell of flesh.

Burned flesh.

* * *

Upon the branch of another half-dead but surprisingly stronger tree, she sat glaring about the weaving boughs. 

_Blasted irritations!_ She brooded darkly within her head. Her body was tense but alert and her senses were widened even if her eyes were hiding in their lids.

In her mind's eyes, she could see her forest sprawled out before and below her. To her left was another and higher bough slightly touching her shoulder and below that was the dead and scorched earth in which this tree made its roots. Directly right of her was a drop to another branch lower on the tree and then to the ground. There was a thick mist clinging tightly to the budding leaves of the trees that still lived. The wood was stained dark with the constant change of temperatures and the scorching blazes that often appeared.

It was rather cold, wind biting at her skin that was never truly accustomed to the cold. Picking up her hair, it tossed the black and red strands from here to there, calming her only slightly. Her robes, however tightly they fit her, flapped in the wind, pulling at corners and crevices of the fabric. She began to wonder whether the skies were calm now.

Her trail of thoughts ended, however, by the high squeaky noise she hadn't grown accustomed to yet. Without opening her eyes, the young woman could see the figure coming straight at her and stop, mid-air.

"Lady Toorima?"

But she didn't move or open her eyes. And there was a long hesitation before the sprite repeated her name.

After a long awkward silence, the fairy didn't remove herself from her presence. Toorima slowly opened her cold violets to take in only the fairy and nothing more. The other visibly backed away.

"Why do you plague me with your presence?" Toorima bit out, her eyes seemingly more violent than usual.

Small eyes of the other widened and she bowed in frightful respect. "Please, Mistress. I wish to know but one thing… Was that indeed Lord Hiten of the Thunder Brothers?"

"Do not show respect towards him," barked the young woman. "He is but an aggravating child that clings to my side, desperate for attention. Therefore I command you to never call him Lord. Ever."

"But my Lady—"

"I am done with this quandary, fairy. Go and make yourself useful for once. Watch for anyone who dares try and cross into my wood. Especially that fool Hiten." She turned away from her servant, wishing to talk no longer.

A sigh and then the nameless sprite's reluctantly respectful reply. Fluttering wings left and Toorima was left alone. For how long was uncertain.

Her attention turned back to more immediate matters. She hadn't battled in too long of a time. Far too long.

Preparation was key. Hunt or be hunted, but quite frankly, she didn't mind either. Death wasn't such a horrible attraction anymore. It was just there. Or was it?

She began to drift back into her mind; ideas, memories and feelings of the past arising on her mind, only to be force back down until she grabbed the one she actually wanted.

Set before her mind's eye the memory sat, waiting for the demoness to close her eyes and relive the battle.

_No outside weapon has she ever used, never quite fond of them in the first place. Some of them around her, however, had weapons. And they surrounded her, hissing, jeering and gibing at her. Her blood boiled in her veins as her skin exploded with heat and an orange combustion that shot away from her, through her skin and into theirs. Screams rose into the air as the incinerated demons dropped to nothing but piles of ash._

_And there he stood, shielding his face from the blazing heat and flames. The one she needed to find and kill. He saw her and leaped backwards with incredible agility even for an immortal. She chased at speeds that caused her to be no more than a blur._

_He stopped and she slashed down, claws biting empty air as he sidestepped. She turned just as she was struck hard in the jaw by something that shot out at her. There was a loud crack followed shortly by pain and her head whipped hard around and she stumbled. But she regained her footing and steadied herself on her hand and feet. The taste of blood filled her aching jaw though she couldn't feel it dribbling down her face and the man laughed._

_His form began to fade into nothing within her tress as she reached her dagger and threw it at him. But it landed in the trees with no proof that this man was ever here._

Blowing gently, the wind passed by her again, stirring her from her memory. Her eyes flashed open angrily over that battle.

"Worthless memories," she murmured to herself crossly.

* * *

Though sun set was fast approaching, the land and sky still held enough light to see almost perfectly. Spring birds on the outskirts of the forests calmed now that the sudden threat of a storm was over, and now they sat in their nests and braced themselves against the cold of night. 

But inside the Forest of Toorima was different. Nothing but the Mistress lived within its invisible walls. In there, a dreary mist clung to the trees so desperately much like the reputation of the young maiden herself: dark, dreary, angry and tainted in blood.

No creature in its right mind wishing to live dared enter its imaginary barriers.

Legend has it that not too long ago, there was a streak of fires following the Mistress's wandering path around the country. They were different, abnormal, fires that blazed with white and orange flames and then migrated, following the Angel of Death herself. She preyed on not only humans, but demons and elves and anyone she came upon too. Rumor had it that she very few live, one of which followed her.

She was, however, claimed to be as cold as ice, regardless of her powers. It is said that the only thing that could get you killed by her faster than standing up to her, was attempting to woo her. Born without a heart, she allegedly desired neither love nor beauty, yet the gods granted her the latter, as if to draw more sacrifices towards her.

And the birds, as wise as they are, knew all this. They forbade their children to pity her or enter her Forests, for if they had, she'd surely find out. So the birds and all living creatures stood from the mysterious Phantom Killer. For they knew she wasn't misunderstood.

She was a monster.

* * *

The sun was at her back, hovering over the fiery mountains to the west, basking the skies in ribbons of purple, crimson, pink and smudges of gold and blue. But the trees before her absorbed any great amount of light, giving Lady Toorima's forest an eerie dank glow. 

Such a wonderful thing wings were. They beat furiously and urgently, pushed her past an unknown amount of trees. The Lady must be found and alerted.

"Lady Toorima," rang the pixie's voice numerous times. She came up to the tree where she had left the Mistress and found her still there, sitting silently alert upon the same bough and the same position. "Lady!"

Toorima's eyes snapped open and her body tensed somewhat, long talons gripping into the wood almost unnoticeably. As the purple recognized the fairy, the cross face deepened and the talons unleashed. She heard the pixie gulp quietly.

"Well?" Toorima demanded. "You've gotten my attention. Now speak before I take your head, and make it a good reason why I shouldn't."

"Another visitor approaches, my Lady," she stated and wriggled nervously. "And it is not Hiten of the Thunder Brothers."

"From the tone in your voice I'd say not. Speak of him, fairy. What did you see?" Her voice held fewer questions and more coldness. Men willingly crossing into the Forest were either crazy or foolishly arrogant in ways of love or power.

"My Lady, this man was much different than Hiten," she watched her tongue while speaking his name, careful not to show her respect for him around her Mistress. "This man where robes of mainly white and carries much armor with him. I could not see his face."

The girl sat frozen. _Could it be him_, she thought angrily. _Could he have come back?_ "Is it He-Who-We-Expect?"

But the fairy shook her small head, angering Toorima more with her reply. "I know not, my Lady. My eyes have never lain on He-Who-We-Expect, so I know not what he looks like."

Toorima didn't move, musing over the fairy's words in her head for several moments, before the fairy broke her concentration. She was quite good at that.

"I do believe that this 'visitor' of ours should be met." Toorima raised a crafted eyebrow to the fairy and grinned mischievously before dropping straight down from the bough. She had kept her footing on the way down, shifted her direction towards where the fairy had come and went on her way.

* * *

At his back, the sun was peering just over the tops of the mountains. Though his demonic eyes caught more light than a mortal's would, light in this forest was dank. There wasn't much growth on any of the trees of ground here, so light wasn't even being filtered into dankness. The air was thick with water, an eerie mist clinging to the trees ominously, giving Sesshomaru the feeling that he wasn't wanted here. 

Automatically his body tensed, but he continued. No haunted forest would prevent him from his mission. If anything wanted him, let it try to challenge him. Still, he hated the sense of being watched from afar.

No wind flew through this place, and Sesshomaru heard nothing. He stopped. It was less than nothing. Everything was still, nothing was moving, no animals, no creatures, nothing.

_What in the seven hells is this place? A graveyard?_ The trees were dead. Nothing grew. Nothing moved. The mist was too thick. And still there was that sense of being watched that he could rid himself of. He saw no eyes, heard no voices, yet he felt eyes burning into him from somewhere. Something wasn't right. Had he walked into a trap of some sort?

Ahead of him something shifted and his alert eyes left everything else and stared through the fog. Someone was approaching.

"Name yourself," a cold voice rang through the forest.

He didn't respond. Instead he stood there puzzled, having sworn that the voice belonged to a woman…

The figure continued closer. Clearing in the mist, Sesshomaru's eyes widened ever so slightly. It _was_ a woman. A younger woman, too.

She stood before him with either blinding courage or a faulty mind. No one ever challenged the Lord of the Western Lands, and yet this lovely young maiden did.

"Why would one such as yourself, a woman, no less, care to know?" His answer dripped something foul.

But the young woman with the purple eyes laughed arrogantly, causing his blood to shift. "You seem to be not who I expected. However, you still seem to be far to foolish to recognize what you have just done."

"Oh? And I suppose you can tell me, woman? Have I trespassed on your master's lands?"

The grin faded from the girl's face. "Hardly. But however sharp your tongue may be, foolish stranger, I advise you not to cross me, for I am letting you live for a time."

The lord scoffed. "How very kind of you, maiden."

"Call me 'maiden' again and it will be the last time you ever speak." Around them the temperature rose to a slightly uncomfortable level. Sesshomaru wondered at this phenomenon as he stared at the girl. "You have just entered the Toorima no Mori, the Forest of the Phantom Killer.

"And I, my dear man, am Toorima, ruler of the Forest. And you have no business here."

_Toorima? **The** Toorima?_ Sesshomaru thought silently. _They couldn't be one in the same_. "So," he replied almost silently, grinning mockingly. "This is the rumored Toorima no Mori, the most dangerous place in the eastern lands. And here before me stands the Phantom Killer. Surprised doesn't even describe this site."

There was an awkward silence. "Never expected a woman demon to be the killer of so many," Toorima said as if reading his mind.

"Hardly."

She laughed bitterly. "Well, dear nobleman, whomever may you be, life is full of disappointments. Did you expect everything to go your way? Come now. We can't know everything, now can we?" Herbody stiffened as she took her stance.

And through the mist, resentment and rising heat, Sesshomaru held nothing back of a murderous glower. "For a maiden," said he, earning himself a glowing glare from her newly turned red eyes, "you have quite a sharp, forked tongue. What say I cut it out?" His hands began to radiate with a sharp, piercingly green aura and a liquid poison dripped from his talons to the scorned earth. The Lord took his stance as well.

A wry smile from the girl. "I'd very much like to see you try."

At that exact moment, the two demons rushed at each other with more force, speed and power than either of them had ever seen from any previous foe.

* * *

To be continued? Yes. That. To be continued…

* * *

A/N: Anyway. I guess that was my Christmas present to all of you. And if you're not Christian, hey Chanukah is cool. Kwanzaa? Any other religion? What? Either way. For those like me, those who believe in god but not Jesus Christ and don't do ceremonies, well here's a gift to you all. Cuz you kids are cool. 

Regardless. This chapter's up. Stop complaining. I'm sorry that my life doesn't revolve around this story. If it did, well, I'd be done with it now wouldn't I? Yeah. I'm still writing the story. Sick? I think not.

Always open to criticism, constructive criticism. Go ahead and tell me anything. Any predictions, opinions, places to improve, ect… You know the deal. Whatever. Wanna drop me a line? Go right ahead! I'm all cool and such. But seriously. Let's not slack off people! Saiketsu needs some reviews, and as always thanks to those loyals who stick with it.


	7. Battle of the Blurs

**A/N**: Back again I see.

Then again maybe I don't.

Maybe there's actually no one there. Maybe these words aren't even being seen. Maybe I'm typing something for no one to see. How do I know someone will see them? Maybe these words aren't even there. Maybe I'm imaging them. Maybe I'm imaging these words being read…by someone who's really not even there either…

…weird…

* * *

**The Phantom Killer**

**Chapter 7: Battle of the Blurs**

* * *

Though he had a fresh look to him, he didn't feel comfortable. He had bathed and adorned new clothing and armor to make him look much more powerful than he was, but his irritability had not dispersed. He sighed in annoyance. 

Out of all the womenfolk that he had ever had in his bed, he hadn't gotten what he wanted the most.

Only two have ever swayed his senses, so alike yet so different. And yet these two women were the only ones to ever reject his charm and desire, the only two he could never have.

Yuuyake was already taken, he knew, by an ice demon that had held her heart so close. She was caring, beautiful, laid-back and powerful when the need be. But she and her lover had fallen victim to a trap. Now existed neither of them.

But the second woman was very much alive. Though she was taken by nobody, her heart too bitter cold, she acted as if she was. Aloof, arrogant, stunning and too powerful for her own good, she was the one.

As he had known her, Toorima was indeed a very closed off person, cruel to the point of insane. To those that didn't know her well, she was a mysterious beast that ruled a deserted, haunted forest, starting fires that burned forever over land and luring men into an attempt to woo her blackened heart.

Hiten knew, though, there was much more to her than that. He'd known her for sometime, how long exactly was lost to him. But he knew her actions almost like he knew his own, knew why she did what she did, the who's, what's, where's, why's and when's and how's and any other question about her.

And the more he knew, the more he wanted her, to defend her, to woo her, to claim her as his own. He wanted her to call out _his_ name in _his_ bed. He wanted to be her reason for ecstasy, to break through her defenses.

But she resisted his charm and manner as if he were asking her to spare his life. And it was baffling.

"My dear Lord Hiten, what troubles you?" A gorgeous voice full of lust reached his ears. A pair of arms crawled smoothly down his chest as he came back into the moment. Behind him, hanging on his shoulders, a beautiful, topless whore with a stately bust pulled at his attention.

"Nothing, dear lady," he turned around to face this lady of the evening, to take in, again, the sight of this vixen.

Red wine hair flowed in ringlets down her shoulder, reaching just below them, coming to rest on her sloped chest. An orb on a silver chain dangled out in front of Hiten as he was pushed strongly onto his back on the bed. The girl followed, placing herself above him.

Hiten let his hands trace her figure as he stared up into the odd catlike eyes of yellow and black outlined darkly in black. Painted red lips on that pale face smiled down at him.

_Why think of her now?_ Hiten reasoned, drinking in this new woman's visage. _There's plenty of time to think of Toorima when I've had my fill of love from this slut._

This woman, he remembered, had thrown herself into his arms freely. Why fuss with one that resisted when there were so many who wanted him?

The more he thought about her, the angrier he became with her. _What happened to her was the best thing for her, the evil wench!_

He grinned pulling the woman closer to him for a night. Their lips connected and the process had begun…

* * *

To any unfortunate passersby, the two dueling demons seemed nothing more than curious blurs of colors and lights. Hues of black, white, red, green and orange danced in an odd display of power, going back and forth, spinning, dashing, charging and striking. At points, it was difficult to tell the two sets of colors apart. 

Inside the blurs, however, all was clear and defined to both Sesshomaru and the mysterious woman who had claimed to be the Phantom Killer of the Toorima no Mori and was now showing extraordinary skill in hand-to-hand combat.

So far, she had been able to block or avert most of his attacks with amazing speed that matched his own and her body moved so easily to accompany her attacks and advances. How she could move in such manners as she showed in this battle and remain uninjured was still an unresolved mystery to the Lord of the West. Only a demon with unfathomable skill could move that easily and that fast.

_Amazing_, he pondered dully to himself as the poison swelling in his hand slid out in a narrow whip-like stream and swung around at her, slicing through the blazing air. _Her skill is as good as mine own_, he admitted very reluctantly after she spun and dropped to her haunches, avoiding the stream with room to spare.

He snapped the whip at her again only to have her dodge it. She pulled her arm back as it started to glow orange. She launched her arm forward and from the palm sprang a jet of hot, bright orange fire bigger than her torso.

Though it came fast, Sesshomaru had time enough to sidestep the attack. "Too slow," he said under his breath as he rushed at her with glowing green claws. As he slashed for her, she spun out of the way, throwing him off balance.

His hands hit the ground and he used the momentum of the fall to propel himself up and backwards to his feet. As he stood straight up, he turned and found her leaning against a tree. _Back to square one_, he thought venomously.

"I've killed many a demon in my lifetime and many a human, all of whose names didn't matter much to me, their bones buried deep within the earth along with their names and inability to fight." Toorima's purple eyes flickered coldly onto his. "You, however, are a noble, that much is for certain. If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were royalty, the son of a ruler, trained in warfare." The eyes intensified. "Am I correct?"

Sesshomaru said nothing, looking condescendingly across to the other. How could she know that much? Was she not just some peasant?

He heard a sudden gasp from behind her. Both of them looked up to the tiny fairy that clung to the branch of the tree where Toorima was standing.

"That _is_ a noble, Lady! It's Sesshomaru, son of Inu no Taishou!" The pixie had finally found her voice in a sudden realization. "The Lord of the Western Lands!"

"Hmmm." Toorima acknowledged.

Sesshomaru held nothing back ofa murderous glare as he aimed it at the pixie. In a flash, the whip revealed itself from Sesshomaru's left handand slash through the pixie's body. The two halves of the sluttish pixie fell to the ground near Toorima, whose eyes found their way into his lethal stare.

"Ah," she announced archly, "Lord Sesshomaru of the Western Lands!" The pale red lips twisted up into a haughty smirk, while those intense eyes danced with fire and malicious intent. "Nobility with a late father that has passed his gall unto his offspring. And now that offspring's faterests within my hands."

"You seem to know a great deal about me, wench," Sesshomaru snapped, green fluids draining down to his talons for another strike. "Tell me how a low-life demon girl came about this information."

"'Low-life'? Now I shouldn't take that as an insult, should I? For that would be childish." Toorima threw her head back and laughed superciliously. "Are you a child, Sesshomaru?"

"Hold your tongue!" Sesshomaru hissed.

She laughed again, sweetly, as if taunting him. "You cannot command me here, dear Noble. Here, I am Nobility, out of your jurisdiction or territory or whatever it is you and your late father claimed as your own, and here, you are my victim." Her words were glazed with poison.

"However, you do deserve a certain level of respect if only for your skills and not your manners." The aura around her pulsed then ebbed away from her, as if she were setting something up. "Not many Nobles can use and conduct poison, regardless of their station. It's usually an innate ability, passed down through bloodlines. Consider yourself fortunate."

"And what of your station?" Sesshomaru asked carefully, losing no aloofness to this girl. "Someone wielding natural fire can only be a descendant of the Devil himself."

A brisk scoff came from her. "I see my reputation precedes me," she smirked again. "While I can assure you I am not an offspring of the Dark Lord, I have some of his abilities." A flash of light came from her right hand as she swung upwards with it allowing a whip of light far too similar to his slip out and strike out at him.

_What!_ His mind ran as he ducked under the whip of bright orange light that carried with it waves of heat. It came back a second and third time, thirsty for blood. "Tell me, wench, how long you have had that power?" he demanded when he had gotten far enough from her that she retracted the whip.

"I didn't take it from you, if that's what you were wondering," stated Toorima coolly, her expression more cross. "Although there are definite similarities between our powers. At first, I believed you took my attacks, but I see that this is not the case. Curious, isn't it?" She snapped the whip again at him only to have him release his own and have it snap at her.

The two whips – one a blinding hue of orange, surrounded in heat and fire, the other a deafening shade of green poison with an aura so overpoweringly strong, it glowed – connected in mid-air. Before the two even touched, both demons realized their mistakes but couldn't take them back. A force so strong emitted from the connection, it forced both demons aback with the explosion.

Toorima flew backwards into a tree not far from her, breaking into the weak trunk, toppling the tree over, giving a groan of protest before it fell. Sesshomaru was hoisted off his feet for a split second and then placed roughly down on his heels not a few feet from where he left. But the force pulled him down onto his back before he could gain his footing.

As the thick black smoke cleared, Sesshomaru could see a blackened depression where the two powers must have connected in midair. He also noticed the girl getting to her feet and removing a large piece of timber from her back. With the slightest wince that was caught by the prince, the timber was removed and, to his surprise, Toorima laughed loud enough for him to catch over the sizzling.

"You laugh at such a sight, woman, as if it were amusing to you," Sesshomaru's voice dominated the evening, which was now much darker without the fires of the other. "Pray tell. What forces you to laugh in such a manner?"

Her eyes found his through the smoke, seemingly radiating with seething power. The irises stood out excellently next to the pale face and darkness.

"Was that result not obvious? If you are indeed as wise as you claim, then you, as well as myself, should have understood the outcome of those attacks combined." A mischievous look flooded her eyes plainly; as if she were planning something she wanted him to know. "Correct?"

Nothing from him.

"And if that were the case, then you released your whip in order for that to happen.

"But if that were true," she continued, as if musing out loud, "it would mean that you knew that not only myself, but you, too, would be injured as well…Unless you didn't remember or even know the outcome of the mixture of poison and fire… For I assure you, the two don't mix willingly…"

Still their eyes held each other and did so until Sesshomaru decidedly broke the silence.

"You're not like ordinary women," came the Prince's blunt and livid retort.

"Really?"

"Most women would have run at the first sign of strength. Run home to their husbands or lovers or their masters of the evening." Hints of arrogance laced within his words.

But Toorima only smiled wryly. "I assure you, I have none."

Finally sick of her and her tongue, Sesshomaru rushed through the thick smoke with his poisonous talons at the ready. Though he liked the idea of her being caught off guard by this sudden charge, the Lord knew better, for her sharp eyes followed him the entire time. Forward came the greedy claws, but back went the maiden of the flames, flipping back onto her hands and twisting in midair so that she landed facing him.

He chased her with another slash, and still another. While she managed to easily elude each of these, he did manage to return with a few strands of silken black and red hair.

"Heh. I'm surprised a young maiden such as yourself knows how to battle with powers so above your status," spat Sesshomaru, still feeling the strands between his fingers.

Her image wavered in the intense heat that pushed out and away from her. Around him, the air became thick and almost intolerable. He could feel himself begin to perspire. A bright aura surrounded her slender figure and her eyes closed. The aura changed into flames that raged savagely around her, spiraling up to the sky,casting an eerie glow on the forest around them. The heat intensified, forcing Sesshomaru to take a step backwards.

Eyes, no longer with purple irises, but furiously vermilion throughout the entire lids, shot daggers at him as they found their target. The fires raged on violently, ingesting their mistress into a tomb of thunderous flame.

But Sesshomaru would never let himself be afraid of such a trick. Instead, he looked straight into the red eyes and the fading outline of the girl, predicting what her next move would be. "What reasons have you to fight? You've no children, no lover, and no husband and, you say, no master. You fight for no reason."

"I fight for a reason beyond your understanding," the image throw back in his face, only proving to distemper the Lord. The fire pushed out at him. "Prepare to die, Lord Sesshomaru!"

* * *

Within his own accommodations, the odd reptilian-looking brother cared not what whores his elder brother held in his arms this night. Now that Manten had his own rooms away from his brother's business, he didn't care how much noise Hiten and his girls made during the night. 

Though he knew that these women fell into Hiten's arms, it came close to disgusting Manten how many Hiten always had. All men were allowed to take their pleasure with women, but there was no logic in Hiten's actions. Soon there would be no women left virgins to either of them.

Manten sighed. He had never had his way with beautiful women like Hiten had. Somehow Manten had missed out on his father's good looks, unlike his brother. Instead, he was short, round, bald and part reptile like his mother.

Fate was a bastard. He pushed the curtain out of his way as he walked out on the terrace. Dark cloud covered the moon here and the air was cool on his skin. Manten opened his mouth wide, gathering his lightning charges and fired them into the clouds.

In return, the clouds took in the stream of electricity and waited before wringing them out all over the place, lightning raining down unequally around the mountain of the Thunder Brothers.

And for some reason, Mantan smiled.

* * *

With what he believed was her left arm, shecame at him along with the fit of flames, as fast as ever. Though he bypassed her as well as he could, he couldn't get away completely. 

A sharp metal grating sound filled the air over the flames as her claws carved into his breastplate and shoulder guard. Sesshomaru flinched at the sound but managed to get away with only broken armor. They parted, Toorima in flames at one end of the clearing and Sesshomaru at the other, where the loose pieces of his armor fell to the ground with a heavy _clunk! _He lifted his head and glared at her in a secret dismay.

"Why do you hold back?"

She sneered. "_I_ hold back? What of the blade at your hip? Throughout this entire battle, you've laid not a finger on its sheath." A disdainful grin arose on her refined lips. "Am I not worthy of your sword?"

He seethed in anger. "Hardly." Tenseiga was hardly worth calling a sword.

The shadowy girl laughed again. "My blood is too rich, I suppose," murmured Toorima, just loud enough for Sesshomaru to catch.

But Sesshomaru taunted back, "My sword desires clean blood of nobler demons than that of a maiden who acts like a warrior."

The smile faded from Toorima's face and somehow flew to Sesshomaru's. The energy around both of them grew as he gathered strength and her aura grew, the fires spurring again and reached up to the heavens.

He rushed in and the battle continued.

* * *

"Lord Hiten?" A finger traced the muscles in his chest delicately, and then her hand raced across his torso, just skimming his skin enough to get his blood flowing again. 

"What?"

Her head landed ever so gently on his chest as the hand went around his breast and neck. But the voice that left her lips was serious. "Payment?"

Hiten sat still for a moment before laughing in confusion. "Payment?" He laughed again.

The girl stopped caressing him. "Yes. Payment." The voice sounded more irate now.

"What about it?" Hiten's anger began to rise.

"When will I be getting –"

"If I remember correctly," Hiten cut her off, sitting up in his bed, making the concubine do the same, "it was _you_ who throw yourself freely into my arms."

The eyes of the girl hardened and glared. She slipped out of his bed and began to dress. Her hair was a mess and she looked tired and angry. But Hiten wasn't done with her yet.

"Wench!" He jumped out of the bed and grabbed her by the arm. "Where do you think you're going?"

She was barely half dressed as he pulled the furious doxy into him and pressed his lips against hers. But to his surprise, she pulled away with a newfound strength and swung her hand at his face, connecting powerfully. The lash made Hiten turn his head for a second or two, though his hand kept hold of the wriggling woman's arm.

As his face turned back around, he saw defiance in the face he had slept with not hours ago. "Ignorant wench!" He raised his own hand and backhanded her as hard as he could, forcing her out of his grip and onto the floor where she lay unmoving. A second passed where she lay completely still, unconscious. Then she moved, groaned and looked up at him in utter fear.

"I was deciding whether to let you go free to your whorehouse where I found you or whether I was going to eat you alive," boomed Hiten, enjoying the palpable fear in her eyes. "Now you've picked your own fate." The color drained from her face. He slapped her again and she began to cry.

He walked away, placing his clothes and armor on angrily. When he made himself descent, he turned to see her leaning up against his bed, crying silently. A bruise was starting to form on her right cheek, swelling already with colors.

Seeing her pitiful sight and the weaknesses she had made him disgusted with her. Toorima would never cry at such an injury. Their eyes met and she backed away like a battered child.

He approached her and grabbed her by the arm, throwing her on the bed. She cried but did nothing to stop him. "Lord Hiten, please. Let me go!"

"Shut up." He pressed his talons into the skin covering her ribs. She screamed as the skin parted and he pressed his lips to the cut, drinking her delectable blood.

* * *

Manten sat on the stairs that led from his terrace up to Hiten's and looked around when he heard his brother. 

"Manten!"

"Aye, Brother?"

"There's a woman in my chambers. Do with her what you will. I have no use for her anymore." His voice was annoyed and on the edge of exploding, but he was distracted too. His teeth were tainted red and his eyes seemed to be glowing.

"Yes, brother," responded the younger. "But tell me. Did you drain her blood?"

Hiten looked at him calmly. "Not all of it." He jumped into the sky and called down. "But she is dead, I can assure you." And the elder brother laughed under his breath.

"And where will you be going this late in the eve?"

The clouds roared and Hiten responded with, "out."

But Manten already knew before he said anything. Toorima was like some main attraction to Hiten.

Hiten left charging on the dark army of clouds that rumbled with lightning.

Manten sighed deeply. He could not blame Hiten for being so infatuated with the Angel of Death. Regardless of her cold temper, she was certainly lovely. Manten had seen her only twice and yet her image stuck with him. With beautiful black and crimson hair that flowed generously and fully down to the small of her back, her eyes a dazzling and luscious shade of purple and perfect features carved into ivory skin, Toorima was the closest to perfect a woman's looks could be. To add only more to her image of an angel, she had the type of body any man would love to have beneath him in the dead of the night.

But her aloofness was ever present and both him and his brother knew that she'd never lower herself enough to sleep with Hiten. And that made her even more desirable.

Yes, Manten secretly wanted her for himself, but he knew that it would never come to pass. He would never tell a word of his desires to Hiten, either. It was a dangerous subject to discuss between them, though Hiten spoke blunt about it.

Just one more thing that separated Hiten and Manten.

* * *

With his blood boiling beneath his skin, Hiten pushed the cluster of clouds onwards and forwards. Not completely over what had happened earlier, his mind wandered onto different subjects, most of them connected in some way to Toorima or another. 

He was having second thoughts about visiting her this night before he saw lights coming from the Forest.

"What is this?" He asked himself. The lights dashed back and forth and he recognized fire.

_Maybe this night will become interesting_, he reasoned.

He spurred the clouds to move further.

* * *

To Be continued and what not. 

Hmmm. That last part wasn't really needed, was it? I don't know. Anyway, feel free to review. I've been trying to keep up. Totally took the day off outta school to do this chapter. Not really. I was kinda sick. Whatever. You don't care.

Yeah. I made the mistake last chapter saying that this story wasn't gunna be posted up on only here or something. Well this s the only website that this story's gunna be posted on. For now anyway. I took it down off of AnimeSpiral. In case any of you know this from there. Whatever.


	8. Inevitable

**A/N**: As of March 1st, 2006, I've been writing this story for two years. Go me.

**

* * *

The Phantom Killer  
Chapter 8: Inevitable**

* * *

Though it was nowhere near midnight the clouds of the night darkened, churned and spurred slowly, discreetly, above the Toorima no Mori. 

Toorima snuck a glance up at the skies just before Sesshomaru's claws flashed by her left shoulder, missing her body by far too little for her liking. His claws shot out again and Toorima ducked below them. The instant later she was in the air spinning her leg towards his face.

Sesshomaru backed away in barely enough time to avoid the kick, glaring at her as she landed on the ground, crouched.

"I bet you can't do that again," taunted the demon lord, smirking insolently. His golden eyes stared directly into hers, devoid of any sense of emotion, almost egging her on to try it.

But Toorima only smiled back, establishing a stalemate. No doubt he was going to try something stupid, that much she already knew. But she supposed she would humor him for a little while before she cut his throat.

The fire demon went forth, kicking straight up at his face. But Sesshomaru's hands came up and pushed her legs down in a sort of block she'd never seen before. She swung her right leg up but he blocked it with the better part of his arm and threw it back down, slashing at her face in the process with deadly venom.

Caught incredibly off balance, Toorima threw her head backwards, avoiding the talons without breathing room, but fell backwards onto her back. The impact ripped her breath from her for a split second. Sesshomaru wasted no time as he stared down at her as if she was his prey, and he unleashed the whip, slashing it down at her.

Defensively putting her arm over her face, Toorima caught the whip in the forearm, subconsciously allowing a gasp from her lips. She could feel the fabric and the skin break and burn her flesh with a festering poison.

But before she could mourn over her near unusable arm, the light came again without mercy, though she really wasn't expecting any, not from him. It was all she could do to roll out of the path of the whip, avoiding another meeting with it. She clambered to her feet just as Sesshomaru retracted the whip and released one from each hand.

The whips flew at her from each side, incandescent flashes of light that carried very little heat. Though her nimble body arched this way and that, Toorima found it increasingly difficult to continue evading that whips for much longer.

Any wrong move would cut her into pieces. And they both knew it.

_Keep moving_, she pushed her body around into different forms to escape, spinning then falling to the ground and lying flat under one, arching her back up as one flew under her stomach without breathing room, literally. She'd get to her feet and bend backwards, parallel to the ground and jump as the two flew at her from different angles. Toorima knew she couldn't keep this up, but her pompous smirk didn't flee.

But as Sesshomaru, as if knowing what she was doing, began to make the corners tighter, decreasing her chances of evasion, forcing her to tire herself out.

_I can't keep this up much longer. There's no way for me to avoid him so many times_, her mind stressed something she already knew. Another thought occurred. _Unless…_ She tensed for a moment at the thought butthen pushed it back down faster than it had come. She'd never go back, _never_ rely on _that_ again.

Toorima dropped to her hands, essentially alongside the ground and released her own fire whip from her right hand, snapping it at his legs. Her planned worked as the whips flew off course as he back-stepped her whip.

Toorima heard the other scoff as she got to her feet, adjusting her clothing. Inwardly she breathed a sigh of relief and glared into golden eyes across the gently sloped clearing.

"I would have diced you into pieces." The whips retracted with a notable flick of his wrists.

"And I would have sliced off the better half of your legs," Toorima parried and retracted her own whip with more elegance, pausing ever so slightly, "and let you bleed yourself dry."

"Enough foolery," Sesshomaru struck back at her, taking his offensive stance. "Time to end this."

Toorima nodded and took the defensive stance, her aura growing with heat. Power raced through her veins and her hair flared as she ignited herself with flames.

He came first, on guard and reaching for her throat withsharpened nails dripping in a poison herflesh knew enough about already. She sidestepped the claws with a sort of lithe she'd been showing throughout the battle, but couldn't raise her arm to strike him.

Expecting this, Sesshomaruturned his attack again to her direction, only causing her to flip backwards away from him, unsteadily and near falling.

"What trickery is this?" She demanded, feeling a burn sensation crawling up through her arm that his whip lacerated. Itsnarled at her from within and ate her blood.

The Demon Lord laughed haughtily. He knew what was going on. "Your _agile_ movements," he hissed mockingly, "have released the effects of the venom. The more you move, wench, the more the venom spreads."

Toorima could feel beads of cold sweat on her face and her innards writhing with pain. She could move through the sickness, but her arm was rapidly losing strength. Once it did, it'd be completely useless. "When I kill you-"

"You mean if you survive the venom."

The fire demon smiled defiantly. "Oh I'll survive this dose of poison, Lord. It's not that easy to bring me to my knees." She straightened herself up properly. "You cannot kill me." All traces of amusement had left her features, leaving only a blazing hate.

Coming straight at her faster than ever, Sesshomaru flew into battle again. Toorima struck out first, taking the offensive and almost catching him off guard. Her hands clamped together and she murmured something she hardly knew the meaning of. Not a moment later, a brilliant flash of light left her angry eyes, stopping him, no doubt blinded, in mid-stride. She saw his arm come up to shield his eyes that have already absorbed most of the shocking light.

Theyounglordstill stood in the clearing unmoving, gritting his teeth for her to see. The light was fading as Toorima moved around him. Though he was obviously in a bit of pain, he wasn't entirely unfocused. Being the supreme race of dog demon that he was, he could no doubt smell her running blood. And in the upper level of demons, a place where this arrogant whelp had been born into, this sort of attack was only temporary, lasting the span of less than a minute.

She'd have to move fast.

With her back already to his, Toorima's feet twisted, scuttling the rocks near them, alerting him. As he swung around with his own wild attack, Toorima dropped and kicked Sesshomaru's feet out from beneath him, using his momentum and weight against him.

But before he dropped, Sesshomaru disappeared.

* * *

"That was an awfully fascinating trick, you ignorant wanton." He could hear the wood splintering beneath his weight. 

Sesshomaru stood on the bough of a tree not far from where he would have fallen with his arms crossed and features set cold. The silver hair at his back swayed once before settling still.

The forest around him was much darker than he remembered it to be as a result of the light she had just shown him. He could hardly see, but he kept his eyes focused on her frame.

" 'Wanton'? That's a new one," she snickered malevolently. "I cannot remember anyone ever calling me a 'wanton' before. And I have a pretty extensive memory."

He glared. _She's toying with me._ "I assure you; you can't rid yourself of me that easily," spat the great Lord as he landed elegantly on the ground near the tree, almost floating. "Your simple tricks won't work."

"As opposed to yours will?" She returned as if spitting it back in his face.

She came at him faster than Sesshomaru had ever seen her move, positioned to attack with fiery claws and quickness. But before her nails could find his flesh, Sesshomaru caught her by both wrists, one in each hand, digging his own nails into her flesh and veins that tangled themselves throughout her lower arms. But Toorima clamped into his arms as well with a harshness he didn't expect, not from a woman.

As the scents of both of their bloods rose into the air, Sesshomaru glowered into the other's somehow smiling eyes. He could feel something besides her surprisingly soft hand on his skin, something hard, pressing into the layers of his skin, yet not sharp enough to dig into them. But before he could ponder it further, her hands twitched and something hot shot up everywhere in his arms.

_Her talons!_ The face before him leered into his eyes as she began to win, forcing him to bend his arms and take a step backwards. Excruciating pain ran rampant through his body starting at his wrists. He took another step backwards. The pain increased.

But he laughed. "Another clever trick…but foolish indeed." Sesshomaru gathered the poison into his arms, and forced it out of his fingertips, into her bloodstream.

And the look that Toorima flashed him as the venom began to intertwine around in her bloodstream was priceless. Her face paled immediately and that smirk was wiped off her haughty but well-crafted face. The girl's arms quaked ever so slightly as he forced her to take a step backwards, gaining his original spot.

"So," she managed to breathe, a cold sweat breaking out on her face again, "here we are again, Lord Sesshomaru, in another face-off where we are perfectly matched by strength and arrogance."

"You will never be my equal, wench!" He pushed, but somehow Toorima managed to keep her ground, refusing to budge against his weight. His claws dug deep and touched something hard that he presumed was her bone. Though at this present time he knew he couldn't break it without having his arm torn open, it was good to know that he was that deep.

"Keep telling yourself that, Sesshomaru." More pain echoed through his arms as fire burned his flesh and her disrespect seared his ego. The smell of burning flesh, his burning flesh caressed his senses, as if trying to throw his stomach into upheaval. He twitched in a discreet agony.

Increasing his own dosage, Sesshomaru felt her flinch under his pressure, saw her face go pale and her jaw clench behind closed lips. He began to ponder how long it would take her to drop. "I can turn your blood to acid at this rate."

"Not before I can burn you from the inside, out."

_Stalemate._

"Tell me, Sesshomaru. Have you ever smelled thousands of burning corpses? Ever smell the rotting, burning flesh of a demon that is being burned alive. Do you know what it's like to writhe in pain of fire?" There was no smile on her face.

"Cease your vulgarity." His stomach churned secretly, not at her words but at the smell of his burning flesh, the agony that echoed everywhere and the inability to stop it.

The young woman before him smirked and shifted her footing around. The blackened talons shifted in his skin, pulling out ever so slightly. A warning, he knew. More flames shot up his arms, weakening him just enough to catch him off guard. The tiny frame twisted around, breaking her holds of him just enough to leave his arms intact and dripping. She swung up and around with a back kick that caught his left cheekbone.

Sesshomaru stumbled backwards, a searing painwild in his jaw that suddenly ached for her blood. A strong hand, unsteady with burned veins within it, came and wiped the right corner of his mouth filled with blood. As his hateful eyes saw the blood, they followed her form with such a merciless hate that even Hell itself followed his gaze and looked upon her with disgust.

She smiled at him, a cocky, smug smirk. While she didn't look in any better shape, she acted as if she had already won the battle, something far from the truth. "You seem stunned. Could it be that the great and terrible Lord of the West couldn't predict something from a less than royal demon?"

"Your blunt stupidity knows no bounds, wench," he spat angrily at her as he flicked his hands in front of him and let the poison that had gathered spray out in a form of misty bullets.

He saw her shield her eyes and evade the attack with that same irritating quickness she had shown him before. But she hadn't escaped it fully. Though somehow it had barely missed her, her pace slowed, and she almost faltered. He took his opportunity to strike out at her while she was off guard, chasing after her.

Without fail, Toorima's purple eyes opened and her thin frame tried to move but failed. Instead of a direct fatal hit, he landed the blow on her right shoulder, breaking the hot flesh down to the bone, the steam rising up into the chilly air. His demonic ears picked up her painful and shocked gasp of horror. He smiled as the lovely scent of her lifeblood rose up into the night sky, caressing his nostrils like a lover.

Before he could strike out again, she found herself a spot near a toppled, rotting tree that was covered in a green fungus, panting heavily, covering the wound. Her eyes still gleamed at him, showed him that defiance that he found amazing.

"It doesn't do well do well not to pay attention fully during a battle." His knuckles flexed and cracked on their own as his stance tensed for another oncoming attack.

What she flashed him wasn't quite a smile and neither was it a glare, but something caught in between where her eyes narrowed and the corners of her mouth twitched. Blood, though hardly visible otherwise through her black garbs, oozed out from beneath her fingers that held the wound that, no doubt, hurt her like Hell. "A careless move on my part, I admit," she pressed on reluctantly, the words coming from an injured pride, no doubt.

The Angel of Death fell silent as a crack of thunder from an army of ominous black clouds threatening lightning and rain rattled the sky. Both of the demons glanced up, Toorima's expression losing all sarcasm and that odd grin. A roll of thunder rumbled through again, shaking the ground.

"I do believe that we'll have to end this little escapade at some other time, Lord Sesshomaru." Her eyes glanced upwards before she continued, "I have other important matters to attend to."

"A high ranking demon such as yourself would no doubt have many other issues to worry over." He saw her body tense, as if it were taking everything in her to control the urge to fight. "But if such an important one, such as yourself, needs rest, I can gladly give it to you." A mocking grin found his face.

Toorima, refusing to retaliate, held her ground. "Think what you wish of me for the time being, oh Mighty One. But I have other matters that desire dealing with."

_What a queer woman_, he thought flabbergasted at both her reaction to his words and the sudden reluctance to fight him. _Was she not the one itching for a battle only moments ago? Her, and her overpowering ego and pride? Now she is the one to give in when we are near the inevitable end?_ The thought infuriated him for some reason. "The Angel of Death fails to fight her enemies. A sort of weakness?" Sesshomaru's icy voice was just loud enough to break into her thoughts.

"Know your enemy before you fight them, dear Lord. I'm sure your father told you that before he died," she mocked, causing his blood to boil beneath the thin layer of skin. "Until then, Sesshomaru." A column of incandescent fire rose up from the ground near her and continued to expand and swirl until it near touched him, forcing him backwards away from the heat he knew too well inside and out. As it cleared, it's path was blocked by a faint purple light that, when touched, deflected his hand.

"What?" He sheltered his throbbing hand that had tried to pierce the barrier. _How is that possible? _His mind rang with so many different possibilities that that young woman, who had matched him in strength, speed and agility, could possibly be some kind of spiritual being. She _was _a demon, correct? He could see her profile shrinking quickly into the distance.

Not many people he had ever known could produce such a thing, without spiritual help. The only one he had known was a human priestess, and had died five years ago in an act of betrayal.

* * *

As the large red eyes of a beautiful demon gazed down through the dense, dark clouds that were his and his alone, his long, dark braid fell over his shoulder and rested on his upper arm. Pearly white teeth, including two fangs, revealed themselves to the night as his unchaste lips peeled back into a beam. 

Far bellow him on the ground, he found the source of the red and black blur he had been following. It was moving at a very fast pace, faster than this throng of clouds could move. Hiten pursued it with a casual effort, raising the thunder pike in his hand up towards the clouds. The immediate reaction of lightning gathering around the head of the pike made his lips spread faintly.

_Not this time, Angel_, and his might was unleashed, sending one hundred tiny bolts of lightning raining down directly in front of the blur, making it stop short in its tracks. It barely missed being electrocuted.

Now, as Hiten descended the clouds, the wheels of fire at his feet, the blur disappeared completely, leaving behind the body of an Angel and the glaring eyes of a demon. He landed across from her, putting out the wheels of fire, and swung the pike so that its head was near her throat.

She wasn't much shorter than he was, rising about to his mouth and obviously younger than he was by maybe a hundred years or so. Her pale skin almost lit up the night more than usual, a sign that she was in some sort of pain.

"You're awfully predictable."

"And you're awfully dense, Hiten," she spat back, not recognizing the weapon pointed at her throat, as if she were used to it. He lowered the blade.

"Ah! So you admit you were awaiting me. It's a start." Hiten reached out with his free hand for her face, but she turned away, refusing him. This simple reaction moved him, making him want her more. The urge to undress her and take her as his came stronger.

"I await nothing of you or from you, you filthy swine."

"You put up a barrier, didn't you?" Hiten asked ignoring her comment. He watched as her countenance turned angry. "Because that would mean you've bro – "

"What have you come here for Hiten? Did you come here to pester me with things I already know? Or did you come here to whisk me off into your bed because your pleasurable company has recently run low and you need someone to hold your hand through the night?"

The comment that she popped caused Hiten's free hand to shoot out and hook around her throat as hard as he could. Lifting her into the air, Toorima's feet dangled, just barely touching the ground. He could feel her labored breath passing in and out meekly through her small throat that he could very well crush at any moment. Her gorgeous eyes glared at him with hate as her small hands clasped his and tried to claw him off of her. Toorima's pride, however, still held its hold for she was not wincing or making any outward notion of pain. Through the corner of his eye, while he glared right back into her eyes, he could see partially dried blood covering her palms in blotches.

"You're very lucky this night, Toorima, for I am in a generous mood. I've decided against killing you – "

"As if you could – " He squeezed harder, blocking her air supply to almost non-existence. And while her arrogant words stopped, her eyes refused to lower their glare even when he had the upper hand. And he loved her for it all the more.

"Now, I'd never want to do any harm to the woman I plan to marry." Toorima fell from his hand as his grip on her loosened. While she landed unsteadily, she remained on her feet gasping for air quietly.

"Don't ever touch me again!" The eyes gleamed with malice and the desire to kill. Without any warning, her right arm swung around and connected hard, straight into his jaw, sharpening Hiten's sense of pain. He stumbled backwards a few steps from the blow. And though the pain was intense, to say the least, he hadn't felt the crunch of bones breaking or grinding within his mouth. Because of that he looked at her.

She stood there sheltering her right shoulder that was oozing blood between her fingers. Still she refused to give in to it, holding her expression still while her face paled and her lungs gasped for air. He laughed at her, losing all of his anger.

"I do believe you're losing touch, my dearest Toorima. That blow was supposed to take my head off, wasn't it?"

Toorima remained silent, a river of crimson flowing over her middle finger.

"You're injured," cooed Hiten, suddenly losing his bitterness. He stepped forward, his hand reaching out for her. Toorima recoiled.

"Go back to your home and your surplus of women, Hiten. Unless you have a real reason for being here, such as to end your life, take your little clot of clouds and scurry back to the safety of your bed chambers." She stalked off, removing her hand from her shoulder.

"Not unless you are the one sharing my chamber with me." He reached out and touched her left shoulder, only to have it flare up with flames beneath. At his touch, she turned around and slashed him with fiery claws from his face to the base of his neck. He recoiled instantly, his seared and torn flesh in distress, falling backwards off balance.

Toorima repaid the favor of being strangled by straddling Hiten's chest and holding his throat to the earth while her knees pinned his arms. Her strong arm held his neck while the bloodied one pointed at him dripped crimson onto his chest.

"Listen to me, and listen to me well, Hiten," the Angel breathed venomously, her voice quiet and on the edge of explosion. "In our existence of knowing one another, you've ruined lives, acted like a child and attempted to seduce me more times than I care to think about. I want nothing to do with you or anyone else in this world. I will never bow down to you, I will never love you and I will never accept you as anything more than an annoying child.

"Now you have two options, because I'm in a rare state of mind. Either you stay there and die or you get up, leave and never come back."

And just as it had she started, she ended, standing up fully and freeing him from the ground. He lay there on the ground for sometime while Toorima straightened herself, before getting up chuckling.

"I've waited years for you to be on top of me like that. – " He barely got the sentence out before something hot struck his face harshly, knocking him down again.

His vision focued and hesaw Toorima retract the whip of fire. "You are a child, Hiten! You will never grow up and you will never learn. Mark my words, your foolish desires and ways will end up killing you." His eyes watched her stalk away in fascinated anger, the way her hips moved from side to side, the anger in her small frame that he knew she held.

Stepping up off the ground, Hiten covered his burned face with his hand, hurt leaking everywhere in his upper body. For once he didn't know what to do or say to her.

Love and hate. The small pang of fear he felt when he saw her. The anguish and the enjoyment. All blended together in a confused mixture of lust, greed and anger.

He wanted her.

Hiten took himself to the sky, relaxing on a cloud that formed beneath him. His mouth tasted of blood. _One day, Toorima. I will have my will and way with you. It's inevitable. _

* * *

It stood high off the ground, supported by a mountain of rock and soil that had been partially built in order to oversee the land around it. The castle grounds held a road that wound around the hill a couple times until it reached the courtyard that spread for a while, keeping the three story castle in it's center. The Western Castle. 

All around it, the budding of pastels and other luxurious colors appeared from the land. A clear road lead up to the front gates of the castle, the border of the raised property and it was here that the young owner found himself, after recovering himself from his trail of thought.

To any one of his servants who were slaving outside and just happened to look up, they'd see the demon's elegance in floating purposely through his lands. They would stop and stare in awe or in envy as glowed in the moonlight.

But he didn't see even one of them, drifting past them and the beauty that had always been there without a backward glance. Instead, he drifted on by them, lost in brooding thoughts as he crossed the courtyard and entered the castle.

This late hour of the night, or early hour of the morning – he wasn't sure which – held very few servants out and about performing their duties to him. One of them, however, was a very old elfish woman, dressed in the required white robes, patrolling the corridors and commanding things to the other servants in her native tongue.

"Yousei," Sesshomaru near whispered in passing her. The woman immediately followed, as if by habit.

Sesshomaru lead the woman around corners and up two sets of stairs, up to his own living chambers, where he opened his doors and entered, letting the woman follow.

"What bothers his lordship this late evening?" The elfish woman was quite old and about half the size of him with long gray hair tied back out of her way.

"I need new armor, stronger," he spoke in an even tone that was far away, not looking at her as he spoke.

"Aye, my Lord." Yousei left the room, closing the shoji gently as to not disrupt his thoughts.

As he stood in his chambers, removing himself of the armor on his torso that remained, his fury rose up from his stomach into his throat.

_That Toorima, she was so strange_, his mind rambled in spite. Of all the women he had ever known of or met, all of them were frail things that could have been broken by their husbands or fathers or lovers. He hated them for that quality of weakness, of being helpless. But Toorima had embodied the complete opposite of every woman he had ever known.

Everything about her was different. She was aggressive where any other woman would have been passive, strong where they were weak and smart where they were dim-witted. She had carried herself as a man would in a battle, accepting no pity and giving none out. _Queerest of all, she had held her ground against me._

The armor dropped to the floor with a loud clank, rendering him temporarily from reverie.

_What is she? _She was fit to be no one's bride, as the rumors claimed, a dangerous young woman indeed, skilled in the art of warfare, as he was. It was impossible to see her wild fire as some man's wife, her ways too wild for her husband. An unfaithful lover could be seen in her, if not for her hostility and coldness towards everyone and everything.

Putting the armor on the chair near him, he placed the Tenseiga on top of that. _Why does it matter? She's just another demon._

As his hand left the sword, a thought occurred to him, causing him to stare intensely. What if this Toorima were of some value? What if he could use her? The Tenseiga found its way to his clawed fingers, resting in their grip as they carried it higher. As he slipped the blade from its casing, the thought progressed within his mind, like a forbidden idea. What if she could be used in finding the mysterious brother sword? What if there was a reason he had blatantly wondered into her wood?

His mind began to analyze the thought better, playing it over and over again rapidly. What if, at last, there was some help for him? He could see her back arching, her body evading him, her accursed, near perfect skill, skill much like his own. He swung the blade around once, feeling a crack in his wrist with the weight of the sword.

There was no doubt in his mind about the similarities between them, though he hated to admit it, even to himself. Why, it was quite shameful to say that _a peasant girl_ had the same training as the great demon Lord, the ruler of the Western Lands. Even so, her powers were great. Such a force at his side, the rumored Phantom Killer, could be very intimidating, very valuable.

The blade cut through the air as he sliced mechanically, without thought or concentration. He hated her. Though her body, which he could see now in front of him, would have enticed any man, Sesshomaru stood aloof to this eccentric young woman whom he loathed with every thread of his being for her superciliousness. And across her image, Tenseiga gashed.

He hesitated as he enjoyed the fading image of her body, breathing calmly, his blade held still and steadyas only he could do. The eyes glared into hers until there was nothing left of her at all, but his exhaustion. Tenseiga lowered.

Moonlight was flowering into the room through his balcony door, basking his suite in a deep, dark hue. His senses heightened, smelling the sweet grasses and fresh night and the blood that still stained his garbs. Spots of _her_ blood.

The night didn't seem as dark as it was, with his eyes now adjusted to the darkness. He couldn't hear any of the servants scuffling along this floor. The sharp grating of metal scratched at his gently pointed demonic ears as the Tenseiga found its sheath, letting his arms slacken. _Too much to think about this night_, he decided, putting the sword down, leaning it against the wall.

While undressing, he found himself thinking about this newfound plan. _She would never be willing to do such a thing. She would never cooperate. She's too wild. She'd mess everything up. She's not the one._

_She's not the one_. All he could think about now was the barrier in her forest. Amazing spiritual powers held her. How could she _not_ be the one? Back and forth he argued her value within his mind, standing and pacing or sitting completely still.

While utter confusion clouded his senses, the images of her and the battle that had followed her flashed through his head in absolutely no order whatsoever. He watched her zig and zag this way and that, irritably. He saw her perfect form, motion and body, taunting him by being faster than his attacks. Was this what he wanted?

Frustrated golden eyes found their way down to the floor and across to the corner, to the sword that couldn't kill. Was _that_ what he wanted?

* * *

**To Be Continued.**

* * *

Wow. That sucked. I hate that chapter now. 

Ok, everyone, say it with me! "Three months is a long time to update."Good! Happy Three months.

Also. Sorry if there are any words stuck together. I swear to God, I've read through this chapter 3 times and still can't get it right.


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